
Pass 3 V 2.0 G O 
Book z_lLE___ 



/ 








7 Z"" 




Up the Ladder in Foreign Missions* 



,/ BY 

bW JORDAN, D. D., 

EDITOR OF THE AFRO-AMERICAN MISSION HERALD. 




THE LIBRARY 
OF CONGRESS 



NASHVILLE, TENN., U. S. A.: 

National Baptist Publishing Board. 

1901. 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
One Copy Rec&vsd 

NOV. 18 1901 

Copvvmht mrrov 

CLAS^J cu xxe. Ho. 

/(Lit - 
COPY B. 



8*1 



. 4 - 



COPYRIGHTED, 1901, BY LOUIS GARNETT JORDAN. 






CONTENTS. 



PAGET. 

reface v . 5 

ntroduction ' ;..**. .*.;. 8 

Stepping- Stones in Missions. ./:... :..?"..! 15 

Missions of the Apostolic Age. ; 25 

Early Missions 30 

Baptist Pathfinder 35 

American Missions , 39 

Birth of Baptist Organizations , 47 cy>~^> 

The Field '. 63 

Africa 83 

Annual Retrospective Views of the National Convention 

from 1880—1900 87 

Facts on the Crisis 105 

Flash Lights on Our Works at the Various Stations 120 

The Value of a Soul. Do you Say it is Too Long Between 

Drops ? 135 

Pastors Responsible 138 

Woman and Her Work 144 

Contemplated Industrial Missions in Africa 149 

CONTRIBUTIONS. 

The Bible and Africa , , , 155 

How the Material Growth of Baptists Should a'nd Will :*' 

Affect the Race in America and Africa 160 

Africa Waiting ; .....* ;.*....'/. .•:;..., 3 6$ 

The Voice of God in African Missions-.', v v. .v.. ;. ,\ 175 

The General Agent, or the Topmost Need in Missions. .. 189 
Extract from Annual Address, 1899 200 



SERMONS. 

PAGE. 

Sent by Christ 207 

Missions, the Design of Christianity 208 

Christ Crucified, The Magnetic Attraction of the World. 209 

Our Obligation to the Heathen 218 

Authority for Missions at Home and Abroad 223 

Our Salvation and Our Missions 228 

Christian Responsibility for the Spread of the Gospel 232 

Our Financial Puzzle 235 

CHIPS. 

West African Women Influential 241 

He Shall be Satisfied^ 243 

Time Between the First Preaching and the First Con- 
vert 253 

Rev. L. G. Jordan, D. P 259 






PREFACE. 



Who knows Homer? Who knows the birthplace of 
Shakespeare and his life? From w T hat source can we 
get the facts to paint in rich oratory the achievements of 
Napoleon, Cromwell, L'Ouverture, Washington, Lincoln, 
Grant and the matchless Maceo? 

History alone records the deeds and sayings of these 
great men. And though the inscriptions may have long 
since mouldered on the tablets, the columns and arches 
which mark the spots where remain all that was mortal 
of them may be heaps of sand, and the epitaphs but char- 
acters written in the dust, yet these men live and the foot 
prints marking the way they went are clearly seen, as 
history lights up the pathway a]l down the march of 
time. 

As in the secular, so in the religious world. The lives 
of such men as William Carey, Judson, Lott Carey, Wil- 
liam J. Simmons, Cosby, Spurgeon, Coles, Luke and 
scores of others who were matchless heroes in the de- 
velopment of Christianity in this and other centuries 
illumining the pages of missionary history, are an in- 
spiration to the churches for ages to come. 

It is not my purpose to multiply books, for I am only 
a novice at the profession, and could not add an atom to 

v 



the world of letters, but it is my highest aim to record 
in this little volume facts, as I know them, searched for 
them and gleaned them from reliable sources. 

I have been pained to notice, in my five years ' experi- 
ence as Secretary of Missions, the woeful ignorance of 
the thousands of our laymen, and even the ministry, on 
this great question of missions. 

It is therefore my aim to furnish reliable information 
to the Negro Baptist churches of this and other coun- 
tries on this question. 

Again, I write because no history of missions records 
impartially and fully the deeds of Negroes who have 
gone to heathen lands and delivered, amid persecution 
ap.d thrilling circumstances, the Story of the Cross. It 
was after great research that we have snatched from 
obscurity Negro pioneers in missions, for men blinded 
by prejudice never saw the black martyrs of early mis- 
sions, nor even those knowing of their efforts have 
written fully of them. Since we are counted in the 
religious census of the world it is strange that our 
achievements in the same history are unwritten. 

Knowing therefore, if our children are to know the 
facts, we must write them, or, like us, they must glean 
them from the reluctant testimony of partial historians. 

Again I write this book and send it out on the wings 
of a prayer that it may be an instrument in God's hands, 
stimulating a new interest in missions throughout this 
country, and serving as a beacon light to many who shall 
venture forth in the service of God in African Missions. 

The sordid idea of pecuniary gain is far from being 
the actuating motive, but if not a dollar of profit comes 

vi 






to me from this humble effort it will serve my purpose 
if any good is done, in inspiring those who shall eome 
after me in the work of missions to which I have willing- 
ly dedicated the remainder of my life. 

We gratefully acknowledge the help gotten from The 
New Acts of the Apostles, Crisis of Missions, Thd 
Miracles of Missions, by Dr. A. T. Pierson; also to Rev. 
Mr. Moss, M. A., D. D., of Canada, for the use of his 
booklet, One Hundred Years in Modern Missions; Amer- 
ican Baptists and Missions, by Rev. E. F. Merriam; 
Gist of Missions, and the Reports of the Ecumenical 
Conference of 1900, The Author. 




vn 



INTRODUCTION 



REV e JOHN H. FRANK. 



Upon my desk, a few moments ago, was laid the 
contents of a new book, the perusal of which, and the 
description given, lead me to the conclusion that Bap- 
tists and all friends of world-wide missions, are, in the 
near future, to have placed at their disposal a volume 
of information at once unique and valuable, handsomely 
bound, typographically clear, beautifully illustrated, ad- 
mirably arranged and comprehensive, commending itself 
to liberal patronage and wide circulation because of 
size, accuracy, fairness, condensation, freshness, and be- 
cause it appears to advocate at the bar of final appeal, 
civilization's most signal achievements and the superla- 
tive concern of the Christian world; namely, the salva- 
tion of the perishing millions for whom our Lord died, 
both at home and abroad. 

The author and compiler, the Rev. L. G. Jordan, 
D. D., Secretary Foreign Mission Board of the National 
Baptist Convention, U. S. A., needs neither identifica- 
tion nor introduction (if presentation) to the millions 
of Baptists in whose especial interest the painstaking 
production appears. Who does not know "Secretary 



Jordan"? 

viii 




The Dark Continent— A. Silent Appeal. 




Rev. J. C. Chilembwe, 
B. C. Africa. 




Rev. L. N. Cheek, 



For more than two decades as pastor, lecturer and 
secretary, prolific of plans and intolerant of opposition, 
of dogged persistence and courageous aggressiveness, 
energy tireless and love universal, North, East, South 
and West he has gone, seeming to say : 

To serve the present age, 

My calling- to fulfill. 
Oh, may it all my powers engage 

To do my Master's will. 

That the earth should become the Lord's in this, not 
in a coming generation, seems to be a possibility that 
cheers and a goal that draws him. Content to spend 
time, nerve force, brain fiber, gifts material and gifts 
spiritual for Africa especially, he is giving Ms zenith 
days, maturest intellect and ripest experience tow T ard 
the development and discipline of the brethren at home, 
and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven and its 
maintenance abroad. 

All hail Africa! With the light we are coming! 
Africa, poor, bleeding, suffering Africa, land of ancient 
history, cradle of primeval civilization, home of Moses, 
refuge of the infant Christ. "Thou long hast been the 
child of darkness and of sin," the battle ground of 
avaricious nations, the abused of Christian ( ?) America 
and the empire of the prince of darkness ! Africa, we 
salute thee ! The ascending Son of righteousness, pro- 
phetic of thy redemption day's dawn, appears, gilding 
the sky with the rays of thy coming glory. 

Shall we remain indifferent when that land so re- 
lated to us is the victim of man's passions and rage, 
rather than time's claims and nature's decays? If 

ix 



nature heals rather than wounds afflicted bodies and 
ruined souls, and if it were the greed, hatred, depravity 
of man, and not rain or snow, fire or frost, summer or 
winter, that struck Africa's children a death blow, leav- 
ing them bleeding and dying, then it is to man, to us, re- 
deemed, saved and sanctified, the call comes to lead 
Africa's gifted sons and daughters from wreckage and 
ruin to perfection, love and service, sympathy and 
sacrifice. 

To this end I have witnessed, as Rev. Jordan plead, 
till the feelings of his soul rose to tears in his eyes, and 
he sank down to his chair sobbing out the love that 
bound him to the heathen "far, far away," and that 
make his words so mighty to move the thousands that 
hang upon his lips, lips that at times seem touched with 
fire not of earth. And who hearing him doubts the reality 
of the unseen Christ, the imperative need of the heathen, 
the unquestioned right of the missionary to be heard, the 
glorious triumphs of the Cross, the possibility of the 
immediate conversion of the whole world to Jesus Christ 
our Lord? 

Long interested in his special theme, and distinguish- 
ed for information wide and convictions deep, "Up the 
Ladder in Foreign Missions,'' by him, was to be ex- 
pected. 

To all men it is not given to launch upon the sea of 
knowledge those vessels named books, laden with gold 
beaten and pure, from mines many and deep, for peoples 
wise and unwise ; for not all may rank with the few of 
earth's children possessed of those endowments called 
genius, wisdom, common sense. 

x 



Many may glean in the fields of knowledge and gather 
.historical data, but to what a small number of nature 's 
children is it permitted to master the philosophy of 
events. 

May I not say that in these pages are written con- 
clusions wise and enduring, from facts not theories, 
brought to the surface by the writer's own study and 
experience from foundations no less worthy than He 
who said, "I am the truth." Read, think, compare and 
see. 

Of course, I find here some things I could wish had 
been excluded, and that excluded I could wish had been 
included, but what thinker refuses to accord to another 
the liberty he claims for himself ? And let us all con- 
fess that even if we may be classed with the children of 
magnificent achievements that we may not yet claim 
perfection. 

The preface bespeaks the motive and the design of 
the author's production. He might have written: "Not 
for the polemic forum but for the truth seeker's desk, 
not to meet the contentions of critics, but to arm him who 
is in quest of reliable information on questions of the 
past in missions among colored Baptists, not to disparage 
the work of other organizations, but to give deserved 
prominence to our own, is this book sent forth on its 
world-wide mission.' ' 

The aggressive pastor, abreast of the religious move- 
ments of his day and ambitious to lead his people out 
into the fullness and richness of denominational life, will 
give "Up the Ladder in Foreign Missions" a place 
among the books of similar purport of the contemporary 

xi 



race (a recent one of which, by Mr. Merriam, is not only 
very conspicious for what it does not say of our foreign 
work, but is wretchedly untruthful in what it does say) 
the intelligent layman will add it to his book-case, and 
mission school authorities will at least call the attention 
of aspirants for the foreign field to its existence. 

But not an end is this book ; it is only a means point- 
ing toward the end, the enthronement of the personal 
Christ in the hearts of men, that with joy we may ex- 
claim : 

From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast, 
Through gates of pearls streams in the countless host, 
Singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Hallelujah ! 

For this happy consummation, missionaries are sent 
out. They go to emphasize not philosophy, not dogma, 
not creed, not church, not a book, so much as a personal 
Christ, not only a revealer of the truth, but He himself 
the truth. 0, no, it is not only a theory, a doctrine, a band 
of union, a system of rules, a reformation, a profession, 
but a new life in that personal Christ and an ever deep- 
ening and widening sense of that life. 

They go not to establish republics or monarchies, not 
to annex territory or to further colonial policies, not to 
advance either the flag or trade, not even to introduce 
a new moral system where the immoral reigns, nor to 
abolish idolatry with its horrid customs, and not even to 
found educational institutions or begin benevolent en- 
terprises, but to establish everywhere the greatest re- 
ligion of earth, the union of man with God the Father in 
Christ Jesus the Son, by the power of the Holy Ghost 

xii 



through the instrumentality of the Word; then all else 
germane follows. 

Yes, that men everywhere may know Him, when to 
know is life eternal ; know Jesus Christ the Lord, Son of 
Man, Son of God; know Him experimentally to be the 
Saviour of the world, the life of the denomination, the 
King enthroned upon the throne of universal empire. 
Tow T ard final domination He is marching across time 
periods and world areas, the unique figure of history, 
the heart of biography; He the sun — all other leaders 
but stars. Commerce, railroads, printing presses, inven- 
tions, wealth, all civilization 's deeds are voices preparing 
His way, aiding His triumph, advancing His glory. 

" Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, 
and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and 
glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in 
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such 
as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, 
Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him 
that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever 
and ever." 



The gospel banner wide unfurled 
Shall wave in triumph o'er the world ; 
And every creature, bond and free, 
Shall hail the glorious jubilee. 



Xlll 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 15 



STEPPING STONES IN MISSIONS. 



To know the facts of Modern Missions is the necessary 
condition of intelligent interest. 



1783. Rev. George Lisle, Rev. Moses Baker and 
Rev. George Givens, emancipated Negroes and Baptist 
preachers, left America as volunteer missionaries to the 
West Indies. 

1790. Rev. David George, Rev. Hector Peters and 
Rev. Sampson Calvert, Negro Baptist preachers, left 
America, sailed for West Coast Africa. 

1792. The first British, or the "Particular Baptist" 
Foreign Missionary Society, organized through the 
efforts of William Carey. 

1793. William Carey landed in India. 
1795. London Missionary Society organized. 

1798. Death of Schwartz. 

1799. De Vanderkemp (London Missionary Society) 
opened missions among Kaffirs in South Africa. 

1804. Mission to Sierra Leone opened. 

1807. Morrison, first missionary to China. Slave 
trade in British dominion abolished by Parliament. 

1810. American Board of Commissioners for For- 
eign Missions organized. 

1813. East India Company compelled by Parliament 
to tolerate missionaries. Judson arrived at Rangoon, 
Burmah. 



16 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

1814. American Baptist Missionary Society orga- 
nized. 

1815. African Baptist Missionary Society organized 
at Richmond, Va. 

1816. American Bible Society organized. 

1818. Conversion under Rev. Robert Moffatt of 
Africaner, the African warrior, who, because of the 
wrongs done his people, had become the terror of all 
South Africa. Madagascar Mission opened. 

The first Christian book printed in Siamese. 

1820. Mission to Hawaiian Islands opened. 
Morrison, assisted by Milne, completed the transla- 
tion of the whole Bible into the Chinese language. 

1821. Lot Carey, of Virginia, who paid $800.00 for 
his freedom, in company with Rev. Colin Teague, sailed 
in the brig " Nautilus' 7 for Africa. Missions in Liberia 
opened with these Baptist elders among the founders. 

1822. Missions to Tonga Islands and to New Zealand 
opened. Nine persons baptized, and the first church 
organized in Liberia. 

1824. Rev. Scipio Bean went to Hayti as missionary 
of the A. M. E. Church. 

1826. Mission to the Karens ("wild men of Bur- 
mah' ? ) commenced. Lot Carey, the Baptist missionary, 
left in charge of the entire Republic of Liberia. 

1833. Slavery abolished in the British Empire. (Act 
went into operation August 18, 1834). 

1835. Rev. W. C. Monroe, a Negro Baptist, of New 
York, began missionary work in Hayti. 

1836. Missionaries banished from Madagascar. 
1839. John Williams, "the apostle of Polynesia/ ' 

murdered at Erromanga, aged forty-four. 



H 

tr 
rt 

Q 

P 

o 



p 

rt- 

a' 






p 




UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 17 

1840. Livingstone sailed for Africa. 

1845. Divisions of Christian denominations into 
Northern and Southern over the slavery fight. 

1846. The American Missionary Convention orga- 
nized by Negro Baptists of the Northern and Eastern 
States, with Revs. Sampson White, Leonard A. Grimes, 
William Thompson, Jeremiah Asher, Theodore D. Miller, 
Rufus L. Perry, among its members. 

1850. Missionary Society organized by the New 
Zealanders. 

Death of Judson, the Baptist missionary, in Burmah. 

1854. Sandwich Islanders organized a Missionary 
Society. 

1858. By special treaty, after 119 years of bolting 
and barring, Japan opened her doors to the Western 
world. This treaty went into effect in 1860, giving Chris- 
tianity an opening in Japan. 

1859. First missionary to Japan. 

1861. Persecution in Madagascar ceased and mis- 
sions re-opened. 

1862. Lincoln's proclamation abolishing slavery in 
the United States, enabling four and a half millions of 
Negroes to begin their march to civilization and to God. 
Mexico accepts Protestant religion, despite the protest of 
Rome. Tonga gets a constitution based upon Christi- 
anity through King George. 

1864. First convert in Japan. The Northwestern 
and Southern Baptist Convention organized in St. Louis 
by Negro Baptists. 

1865. China Inland Mission commenced by Kobert 
A. Patton. 



18 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

1866. At a meeting held in Ebenezer Baptist 
Church, Richmond, Va., the American Missionary Con- 
vention and the Northwestern and Southwestern Con- 
vention, composed of Negro Baptists, consolidated. 

1874. The Consolidated Baptist Convention took 
over a mission station from the American Baptist Free 
Mission Society in Hayti. 

1878. Shiloh Baptist Church organized in Morris 
Street Church, Charleston, S. C, and sent to Brewer- 
ville, West Coast Africa, on bark "Azor," Rev. H. N. 
Bouy, pastor. Missions to the Congo opened. Great 
revival at the Baptist mission station among the Telegus 
(Lone Star Mission), 10,000 baptized between June and 
December. They had had thirty years of dearth, and 
many pastors wished to abandon the work. Consecra- 
tion of the great hall by the Karans on the fiftieth anni- 
versary of the first convert who was baptized by William 
Carey. 

1879. Rev. Solomon Cosby, of Virginia, sailed for 
Lagos, West Africa, under the Southern Board, dying at 
his post the same year. 

Rev. S. P. Flagler, with an organized A. M. E. 
Church, sailed for Africa. 

Rev. H. N. Bouy sailed for Liberia, West Coast 
Africa, under the auspices of the South Carolina Bap- 
tists, who supported him for three years. 

1880. Baptist Foreign Mission Convention, com- 
posed of Negro Baptists, organized in Montgomery, Ala- 
bama, absorbing the Virginia organization. 

1881. Rev. J. O. Hayes transferred from the North 
Carolina Convention to National Foreign Mission Con- 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 19 

vention. Two woman's missionary societies organized in 
Canada. 

1883. On December 1, Eevs. W. AY. Colley, J. H. 
Presley and their wives, Revs. Hense McKenney ana J. 
J. Coles sailed for West Coast Africa, to organize work 
among the Vey tribe. 

1884. Sister Hattie H. Presley died at Bendoo 
Station, near Cape Mound, West Coast Africa. 

Stanley opened the Congo basin, showing 5,249 miles 
of navigable rivers, 11,000,000 square miles of territory 
inhabited by more than 43,000,000 of people. First 
A. M. E. Conference organized in San Domingo. 

1885. A plan to plant a Texas colony in Liberia. 
The would-be colonists sent Rev. L. G. Jordan out 

to see the prospects and report. 

Two Negro Baptist preachers, Theophilus E. S. 
Scholes, M. D., and John E. Rickets, sent to the Congo 
by the African Mission Convention of the Western States 
and Territories. 

Rev. J. H. Presley returned home from Africa, in 
charge of Rev. L. G. Jordan, broken down in health. 

JJirst church opened for Christian worship in Corea. 

1887. Rev. J. J. Coles came home, married and re- 
turned to Africa with his wife, Lucy A., Rev. and Mrs. 
E. B. Topp and Uev. J. J. Diggs. Whole Bible trans- 
lated into the Japanese language. 

1886. Rev. J. R. Frederick sent to Sierra Leone by 
A. M. E. Church. 

The Native Baptist Church organized at Lagos by 
Rev. Majola Agbebi, M. A., Ph. D. 

1888. Students' volunteer movement for foreign 



20 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

missions opened in the United States. Government of 
China completed the first railroad built in the empire. 

1890. Mrs. John E. Rickets sent by the African 
Missionary Convention of the AVestern States and Terri- 
tories to join her husband on the Congo. Rev. Wm. J. 
Simmons, prince of Negro Baptist leaders, died. 

1891. Death of Samuel Crowther, D. D., a native of 
West Africa. Born a heathen slave and died a Bishop. 
First section of Congo railroad finished. 

Susi, one of Livingstone's trusty attendants, died at 
Zanzibar. It was this faithful African who conceived 
and carried out the plan, assisted by others, to take Liv- 
ingstone 's body, papers and other effects over 1,000 miles 
on their shoulders, so they might reach his people in 
England. It was a journey of one year and fraught with 
great danger. 

Rev. R. L. Stewart and Miss V. A. Jones went to 
AA 7 est Coast Africa under appointment of the African 
Mission Convention of Western States and Territories. 

1892. Seventeen powers or countries sign the Brus- 
sels treaty creating the Congo Free States — including a 
territory twice the size of all Europe, with a population 
of more than 25,000,000 souls. By the terms of the 
treaty, slavery was abolished and liquor and fire arms 
selling prohibited. 

The student volunteer movement organized in Eng- 
land. * 

1893. Work in Africa abandoned by our Foreign 
Board at Richmond, a number of our workers having 
died— tribal wars having almost annihilated the Vey 
tribe — Rev. J. J. Coles and wife, the last workers, 






UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 21 

ordered home, and our mission house at Bendoo sold as 
old lumber to persons at Cape Mound. 

1894. Rev. J. J. Coles, after ten years spent in 
Africa, returned home, made Foreign Mission Secretary 
by the convention at Washington, D. C, but died before 
the year ended 

Rev. R. A. Jackson sailed for South Africa and orga- 
nized first native Baptist Church in Capetown. 

1895. National Convention in session in Atlanta, 
Ga., sent help to Rev. R. A. Jackson. 

Foreign mission work of Negro Baptists re-organized 
and put under a board located at Louisville, Ky. 

Rev. L. M. Luke, D. D., our Foreign Mission Secre- 
tary, died in Louisville, Ky. 

1896. Rev. L. G. Jordan, pastor Union Baptist 
Church, Philadelphia, elected Foreign Mission Secretary. 

Mr. Joseph Booth, a real friend of Africa, in com- 
pany with Mr. John Chilembwe, a native, came to 
America from East Central Africa. 

1897. Rev. G. F. A. Johns and wife sailed to do 
work among the Kaffirs in South Africa, under the 
National Baptist Board. They died the same year— he 
on June 5, and she on September 20. 

Rev. R. A. Jackson came home to America, returning 
to South Africa in December the same year. 

Rev. John Tule and Miss Mamie Branton were mar- 
ried in Scotland by Rev. D. W. Long while en route to 
South Africa under our board. 

Slavery abolished in Zanzibar. 

Churches organized at Queenstown by Rev. George 
Thomas, and at Middle Drift, South Africa, by Rev. J. I. 



22 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

Buchanan, under the National Baptist Board- 
Brethren who split from the National Convention met 
in Washington, forming the District Convention. 

Our first African students— Monte Kama and Alfred 
Impey, son and nephew of Chief William Shaw Kama — 
arrived, entering Extein Norton and Shaw Universities 
respectively. 

The Congo River railroad opened to Stanley Pool, 
thus connecting 10,000 miles of navigable water and mil- 
lions of people with the outside world. 

Rev. D. N. E. Campbell, M. D., and wife, sailed for 
Santiago, Cuba, under the National Baptist Foreign 
Mission Board. 

Bishop Turner organized A. M. E. Church in South 
Africa. 

Alfred Impey, nephew of Chief William Shaw Kama, 
one of our students, died in Long Pine, N. C. The Afri- 
can Baptist Industrial Missionary Society organized. 

Two other students from Natal, Southeast Africa, 
arrived— Isiah Ignati and Alfred Seeme — entering Way- 
land Seminary, now in Virginia Seminary and Benedict 
College. 

1899. Because of wrongs inflicted by civilized peo- 
ple, the natives of Sierra Leone murdered five mission- 
aries of the United Brethren. 

Lot Carey Foreign Missions Convention organized. 

Rev. J. W. Anderson arrived in Georgetown, British 
Guiana, in April. In June, organized first Negro Bap- 
tist Church, with five members. 

Rev. John Chilembwe. a member of the Ajawa tribe, 
after two years spent in Virginia Seminary, returned to 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 23 

British East Central Africa, under the National Foreign 
Mission Board. 

Rev. C. S. Morris, Financial Secretary and volunteer 
missionary of the African Baptist Industrial Missionary 
Society, went to Africa, acting as Commissioner for the 
National Board in connection with his work. Revs. L. 
N. Cheek, of Mississipi, and T. W. Longwood, of Arkan- 
sas, elected to go to Africa. 

Rev. Jonas Goduka, with seventeen pastors, thirteen 
churches and 1,200 members of the native church, South 
Africa, united with the Baptists, or New Testament 
Christians. 

1900. April 4, Rev. C. S. Morris returned home. 
April 14, Rev. E. B. P. Koti, of South Africa, came to 
America. Corner stone laid for a second church in 
Damaria, British Guiana. 

April 21, great Ecumenical Foreign Mission Confer- 
ence met in New York for a nine days ' session of prayer, 
praise and plan for the onward march of the Master's 
kingdom. 

April 25, the American Baptist Missionary Union, 
the first of our great Baptist Societies, offered to co- 
operate with the National Baptist Convention in push- 
ing its mission work, which offer was gladly accepted, 
the plan agreed upon and entered into. 

The United States include a population of 77,000,000 
souls ; Africa has more than three to every one of these. 
One man out of every seven in the world dwells in 
Africa. 

1901, January 23, Rev. Koti returned to South 



24 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

Africa. Rev. London N. Cheek sailed for British East 
Central Africa. Rev. C. C. Boone and wife sailed for 
the Congo, under the Lot Carey Foreign Missions Con- 
vention. 





"Ill 
life 

A Devotee who ,haa ,beldonearmi,prightu D til it^asbecome 
9tm auc * the nails eight inches long. 




A living babe exposed to vultures, 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 25 



MISSIONS OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 

"These went forth, taking nothing- of the Gentiles. We, 
therefore, ought to sustain such, that we may be fellow work- 
ers for the truth." 

Traditional history records little of the missionary 
efforts of the early ages outside of the chronicles of the 
Acts of the Apostles and an occasional reference in the 
Epistles. Most of the missionary activity of this age is 
recorded by Luke, Paul, Peter, John and others. 

The world to them was a small sphere. To give their 
idea of the world, read these lines from the lips of Luke : 
"They that were scattered abroad went everywhere 
preaching the word. " Paul, in a spirit of joy y declared 
that "the gospel has been trumpeted around the known 
world." 

In reading the list of places visited by them, we 
readily see that beyond those borders lay a world in 
darkness and superstition. 

When we look upon the works of these men we can 
truly say it was an age of individual effort, and the 
succeeding ages got their vigor from the individual 
efforts of the Apostles. These believers felt it their 
duty to preach Christ wherever they went, to tell the 
story of the Cross, bear witness of the personal value of 
accepting this Saviour. . Whatever business errand 
they were on they never forgot to speak of the divine 
service of Christ. 



26 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

Though their efforts seemed feeble and the results 
slow during the next two centuries, the rapid growth of 
the Church was seen on every hand, and instead of indi- 
vidual efforts for the fostering of the gospel, we see an 
organized body of Christian worshipers who boldly 
asserted their right to exist. 

Men like Clements, Origen and Tertullian stood as the 
very exponents of the faith delivered to the Saints. 

The pathway for centuries after this consolidated 
period was strewn with the. corpses of martyrs. The 
blood of these martyrs became everywhere the seed of 
the Church. The translation of the Scriptures became 
a power for the propagation of the gospel. Rome, 
Athens, Smyrna, Carthage and all the largest cities be- 
came the strongholds of Christian worship because of 
the flocking of tradesmen and artisans to these centers. 
Soon a school for the training of Christian teachers 
sprang up at Alexandria, and from this institution went 
teachers to Africa, Europe and Asia. In this, as in the 
following ages, it is noticed that the kindling of a liter- 
ary spirit made possible a rapid advance in missionary 
efforts. 

Civilization took up its march Eastward from Jeru- 
salem, across Mesopotamia and the mountains of Persia, 
going even to Bactria. The movement spread even to 
India, and at the close of 190 A. D., 350 churches had 
been established about Malabar. 

The rapid growth of Christianity in Egypt was 
astounding. T\ T e are told from reliable authority that in 
235 A. D., twenty bishops from the Nile Valley attended 
a council in Alexandria. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 27 

Commerce became the handmaid of the gospel. The 
prevalence of Phcenecian tradesmen on the North Coast 
of Africa kept it in close touch with the Eastern world, 
especially with Italy. Pushing onward into Gaul, 
churches were established at Lyons, Vienna and Paris. 
In 306 nineteen bishops assembled at Elvira, and Ter- 
tullian addressed 200 heathen thus: "We are but of 
yesterday, and yet we already fill your cities, islands, 
camps, and your palaces, senate and forum, etc.," thus 
proving conclusively the rapid growth of Christianity. 

The next period, 312-590, marks the establishment of 
Christianity as the religion of the empire under Con- 
stantine and Gregory the Great. Goths, Vandals and 
Huns, commonly known as the wild men of the North, 
swarmed into Italy, Spain, and crossed the Mediter- 
ranean into North Africa. Honoratus, in France, St. 
Patrick in Ireland, labored earnestly to educate and 
Christianize the Scots and Picts. The Armenians, under 
the teachings of Gregory the illuminator, was the first 
nation to accept the new doctrine in the fourth century. 
Other workers pushed their way into China, Ceylon 
and Calcutta. 

While considerable advance was made in missionary 
efforts from 590 to 1073, the period is known as the 
dark ages, that millennium of death with all of its 
horrors of moral depravity of races and nations, yet 
whose appalling darkness and threatening blasts could 
not extinguish the lamp lighted on the morning of the 
resurrection. True, the influence of the church was 
very weak because of the corruptness of its leaders, but 
as in later days men lived and labored whose influence 



28 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

was felt and whose efforts proved that God still reigned, 
even in that darkness. Such men as Columba, Augus- 
tine, Hilda and Willibrord were the great lights of this 
age, and their work in monasteries were the stepping 
stones to a great revival in the centuries that followed. 
Canute, the leader and teacher of the Danes, ranks as 
one of the best educators of the period. 

About this time, through the efforts of his sister, a 
Bulgarian Prince accepted Christianity and thus started 
a religious conquest of the Slavs. 

Later in the century missionaries from Constanti- 
nople were sent for^ and Russia soon became known 
among the Christian nations. 

Under John de Monte Corvino, Christianity pushed 
its way into Asia and flourished, but the fall of the Mon- 
gol dynasty about half a century later crushed out what 
Christianity there was. From 1073 to 1517 the mis- 
sionary spirit was dormant. Mohammedanism so 
threatened Christianity that there was a cessation in 
its onward march. Raymond Lull, however, kept alive 
the missionary spirit. His life reads like a romance. 
After several efforts to establish an institution of 
languages, where priests might be taught, he visited 
Africa, where he was thrown in prison, but his courage 
won favor from the Moslems and his life was spared. 
His efforts form the connecting link between the Apostles 
of Northern Europe and the leaders who, following the 
Reformation, carried the gospel everywhere. 

Over fifteen centuries we have come with many 
changes in individual and church efforts in missions. 

Then the nations became interested in civilizing and 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 29 

Christianizing until whole races and communities came 
en masse. 

Many missionaries sought to educate and train their 
converts for future service. Men preaching a spurious 
doctrine had to he fought on every hand. 

But summing up the centuries, Christianity had 
flourished, the influence of the Church increased, and 
the road to future success opened. For that Pentecostal 
awakening, when three thousand cloven tongues set up 
their vibrations with Heavenly speech and music, sound- 
ing throughout all ages, "One Lord, One Faith and One 
Baptism," has been the great power that has banished 
darkness, raised up witnesses, saved people in all 
nations and in every age and clime. 




30 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



EARLY MISSIONS. 



ROMAN CATHOLICS IN MISSIONS. 

The Reformation marked a division in the efforts of 
the church to prosecute mission work. Prior to this 
missionaries carried the same gospel in form and sub- 
stance, but ever since the Roman Catholics and Prot- 
estants have carried on a distinct work. Central Europe 
at this time was engaged in politics, while in other sec- 
tions the spirit of missions was fast dying out. The 
Portuguese and Spanish began to make maritime dis- 
coveries. The new world in the West, and the route to 
India was opened up. With the sailors went the priests, 
and soon there was a general stir in the Catholic and 
Protestant Churches, 

The names of the Jesuits, Dominican Friars and Laz- 
arists shall ever stand out as distinct missionary bands 
of this period, whose object was the extension of the 
Church in all the world. Each member of these orders 
was bound to go or do whatever was in his power to ad- 
vance the Roman Catholic Church. The leaders were 
such men as Francis Xavier, Loyola, Robert Nobili and 
DeBrito, whose marvelous influence Avas felt everywhere. 
Corruption of those who followed these great men 
brought the cause to reproach. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 31 

The great fault that afterwards weakened the work 
of Roman Catholics in Asia was the lack of spiritual life, 
the acceptance of signs and symbols of Christianity at 
the expense of the education for the growth of Christian 
character. They did not even add one translation to the 
Bible, which defect deprived the promoters of Protes- 
tant missions from the slightest basis for work when they 
visited these fields two and a half centuries later. With 
their untiring energy, it seemed at one time that the 
religion proclaimed by these depraved successors would 
sweep all Africa, India and China. They stooped to the 
very customs of the heathen, and in the century and a 
lialf of their most degrading influences the Popes them- 
selves condemned their efforts and ordered the suppres- 
sion of the societies. It is not our intention to criticise, 
and yet history informs us that because of the results 
of Roman Catholic missions in many countries, and 
especially the Spanish American colonies, and the many 
unspeakable scandals in India, " there have been not a 
few to deny that Roman Catholic missions have done 
any real good ; and the repeated use by some of the mis- 
sionaries of any means to secure their ends has greatly 
discredited the work of all." 

PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 

Erasmus was the great pioneer of early Protestant 
missions, and though his efforts seemed to have done 
little to arouse the church in the interest of missions, he 
did much to solidify and clarify it in ideas. It was two 
centuries after the Reformation before the Protestant 



32 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

church manifested a conception of God's claim upon it 
in missions, and three centuries before it became a mis- 
sionary church. 

There was, however, some individual efforts in mis- 
sionary endeavors. In 1555, Admiral Coligny received 
the indorsement of John Calvin, and with a company 
of ministers sailed from France for Brazil. Two more 
attempts were made in 1564. The missionaries landed 
this time in Florida. These three attempts were failures. 

In 1559, a missionary was sent to Lapland. 

In 1619, the Dutch- conquered Java and introduced 
Christianity among the natives. The work was extended 
to the Moluccas and Amboyna and Formosa, and it is 
said that in 1701 they had over 100,000 Christians in 
Java, and in Formosa about 6,000 converts. 

It was during 1716, that the Dutch begun operations 
in Ceylon, and in 1722, they reported over 425,000 con- 
verts. The work extended into India. All these efforts 
on the part of the Dutch availed nothing when the 
colony was conceded to England. The Dutch West 
India Company had been doing some apparent good 
work, but indiscriminate baptism brought their ruin. 

England about this time turned her attention to the 
evangelization of the American India whom her colonists 
found here. In 1649, the Long Parliament granted the 
first charter to a missionary society "For Promoting* 
and Propagating the Gospel of Jesus Christ in New 
England." 

Von Welz sounded the keynote to modern missions 
when in 1664, he asked the following pertinent ques- 
tions : 




R eY « J- J« Coles and Dr. D. N. Yassar, N. Bendoo Station, West Africa. 




Coat '»t Ar us -Republic n Liberii. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 33 

"1. Is it right that we evangelical Christains hold 
the gospel for ourselves alone, and do not seek to spread 
it? 

"2. Is it right that in all places we have so many 
students of theology, and do not induce them to labor 
elsewhere in the spiritual vineyard of Jesus Christ? 

"3. Is it right that we evangelical Christians spend 
so much on all sorts of dress, delicacies in eating and 
drinking, etc., but have not hitherto thought of no means 
for the spread of the gospel V 

The questions were not answered by the lifeless pul- 
pits and sleeping churches, hence no steps were taken to 
aid him in the work. From human reckoning his efforts 
seems to have utterly failed. 

The Pietists begun work in 1700, on the same order 
as suggested by Welz. 

The Danes, through Schwartz and Ziebenbalg, ope- 
rated missions in Tranquebar. The king of Denmark, 
being desirous of extending this work, sent missionaries 
to the West Indies and Africa. Zinzendorf, the Mora- 
vian missionary, comes forth at this time and puts all 
of his social, civil and political ability and tact at the 
service of those whose idea was the spiritual growth of 
man. The Moravians were among the most self-sacri- 
ficing missionaries in all history. 

Their spirit of readiness to serve is shown by the fol- 
lowing incident. Count Zinzendorf went to one of them 
and asked, "Can you go as a missionary to Greenland? 
Can you go to-morrow?" The reply was, "I will start 
to-morrow, if the shoemaker has finished my shoes which 
I ordered." 



34 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

In 1729, the Oxford Club in England was organized 
and plans to prosecute missions were laid. The Wesleys 
were the leading spirits in the movement. John Wesley 
and his brother, in company with Oglethorpe, came to 
Georgia, but they returned and visited Herrhut in 1738. 
In 1786 Thos. Coke, en route to Novia Scotia, was driven 
by storm to the "West Indies, but it was a quarter of a 
century later before the Methodists under the Wesleyans 
begun work in Africa. 

Under the different bands and orders here given the 
work of missions rose and fell, but the onward tread of 
Christianity against obstacles was encouraging to those 
who watched for the daybreak when all men would be 
imbued with the spirit of missions, 







UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 35 



BAPTIST PATHFINDERS. 



Whom shall I send, He saith, "What servant shall it be?" 
'Tis faith's strong- voice that prayeth, "My Master, O send me! 
Send me to tell the story abroad." 

Before the Revolutionary war "two New England 
ministers made application to the Presbyterian Synod of 
New York to assist in sending two Negro ministers to do 
evangelistic work in Africa. ' ' The war, however, pre- 
vented them from carrying out their plans. 

Partial history fails to record the fact that while 
Wm. Carey was yet at his shoemaker's bench, little 
dreaming of the part he would play in Christianizing the 
world, that Negro Baptist preachers who left America 
soon after the Revolution were then preaching the gospel 
in the. "West Indies— Jamaica and Bahama. 

The Rev. George Lisle, Moses Baker, George Givens 
and others, were already at work and had flourishing 
churches among the natives in these Islands when the 
English Baptist Foreign Mission Society commenced 
work in India, under Carey and others, in 1792. 

Rev. Amos had labored for some time at Bahama and 
had a flourishing church of over 300 members when 
the Baptist Mission Society begun its work. Negro 
Baptists from this country carried the gospel to Sierra 
Leone in 1790. The names of Rev, David George, Revs. 



36 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

Sampson Colbert, Hector Peters, John Williams and 
John Ramsey will go down in impartial history among 
the " fathers of Baptist Missions;" for indeed they 'pre- 
ceded Carey, who is termed (i the father of missions" by 
nearly ten years. 

It seems almost like a miracle, when we think that in 
"619 the fathers of these Negroes were brought here 
rteves, s td ^ < h chained for 164 years, by their own 
efforts t rarst their fetters asunder, studied God's 

word, and 1783 returned to their fatherland and 

"went everywhere preaching the gospel." 

The first organization to take up foreign missions as 
a distinct work of the churches was the Baptist Mission- 
ary Society which was organized in 1792. 

William arey, born 1761, at Paulerspury, Eng., at 
fourteen a shoemaker's apprentice, at eighteen convert- 
ed and ordained in 1787 5 and was one of the charter 
members this Society, and is "the pioneer in organ- 
ized missions. " 

He was imbued with the true spirit of missions, but 
found many obstacles in the way. 

When he proposed in the association the advisability 
of sending missionaries to heathen lands, it is reported 
that Dr. Ryland said, "Young man, sit dow r n; when 
Cod pleases to convert the heathen He will do it without 
your aid or mine." 

Sue! the sentiment of over two- thirds of the 

Christian hurch of that age, for there never has been 
a centri;- n England so void of faith as that which be- 
gan with Queen Anne. Blackstone, the noted lawyer, 
said, "I have heard eA 7 ery clergyman of note in London, 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 37 

but not one discourse that had more Christianity in it 
than the orations of Cicero, or showed whether the 
preacher was a disciple of Confucius, Mohammed or 
Christ." • 

When Carey desired to go to India, the East India 
Company refused to take him, and ordered him from 
the vessel. God opened the way and he reached Cal- 
cutta by a Danish ship. His life is luminous with great 
lessons. A greater character because of its earnest, 
patient, Christian toils, never lived. For forty-one 
years, without a break, he labored in India. 

"Carey bore without harm the brunt of a long, hard 
fight. To all accusers, traducers and ridiculers his life 
gave the lie. The energy of his will, every purposeful 
soul may emulate and imitate. Life that is aimless is 
both restless and forceless." 

Never had the heathen world heard the call to awake 
until this brave warrior laid hand on the Christian bugle 
and woke the world from its lethargy, sounding the key- 
note to modern missions. Carey had passion for souls, 
and therefore real Baptist enthusiasm for missions. The 
record of his life work may be summed up as follows: 
"The first complete or partial translation of the Bible 
into forty of the languages and dialects of India and 
neighboring countries; the publication of the first ver- 
nacular Bengali newspaper, the language of 70,000,000 ; 
the first printing-press, paper-mill and steam-engine ever 
set up in India; organization of the first schools for 
native girls and women; of the first college to train 
native pastors; the first medical mission, the first sav- 
ings-bank, and the first translations of the Sanskrit into 
English." 



38 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

He died in India at the ripe age of seventy-three 
years, having given long and faithful service in that 
land. The British authorities denied Carey a landing- 
place on his arrival in Bengal ; when he died the Govern- 
ment ordered all its flags to be dropped to half-mast. 
His life is indeed an inspiration to all who are laboring 
for and praying for "Thy kingdom . come. ' ' 




UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 39 



AMERICAN MISSIONS. 



Carey's sailing in 1796, and the efforts of the London 
Missionary Society, aroused great interest in America, 
with h?r hundreds of Indians. Literature in the form 
of tracts and sermons was printed and scattered. In 
1806 the growing interest in missions was substantially 
manifested by the gift of Robert Ralston and others, 
of Philadelphia, $3,375.00 to India for missions. Then 
begun the organization of societies in this country to 
operate missions among all heathens, whether in America 
or across the ocean. The American Board of Commis- 
sioners was the most import. It was organized June 29, 
1810. In January, 1812, from an appeal, $6,000.00 was 
raised and thus the means to send out missionaries was 
provided. During this year, Judson and Newell, from 
Boston; Hall, Nott and Rice, from Philadelphia, sailed 
to Calcutta. The American Board and the American 
Baptist Union, organized in 1814, were pioneers, and 
the seed from which the other Boards afterwards sprang. 
It is interesting to note that at this time the countries 
were all ablaze with zeal for missions, and men and 
means came comparatively fast. 

Much attention was given to India. Adoniram Jud- 
son, whose life embodies a true romance of heroism 
touched and tinged with the pathos of severe suffering, 



40 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

on his way to India, under the Presbyterian Board, he 
read many books on Baptism, and carefully read the 
Bible on the subject, and, being convinced that the 
Baptists were right, radically changed his views. This 
brought about a new movement, the organization of the 
American Baptist Missionary Union, one of the oldest 
Missionary Societies in the world, and changed his course 
from India to Burmah. This was but a true illustration 
of the Higher Power that rules the contrary winds. 
Judson established the first mission in Burmah, and 
labored forty years, enduring great hardships and im- 
prisonment ; but this scholarly, zealous man of God, who 
lived only to serve, lived to see the glory of the coming 
of the Lord in that land. When he died, over 7,000 souls, 
63 churches and 163 missionaries and native helpers 
were left in Burmah as living monuments of his long 
and faithful labors. His sainted wife and Mr. Rice were 
loyal and loving co-laborers with him. The labors of 
this trio will ever live, for they laid the basis of Christian 
character deep in the heart of Burmah. 

George Dana Boardman was another hero of that 
age, and labored zealously among the Karens at Savoy. 

In 1815 the American Board sent Messrs. Poor, 
Meigs, Richards and Warren from Boston to Ceylon. 
They started work at Jaffna. In 1819 Rev. Myron 
Winslow and Dr. John Schudder were sent. The 
names of Hoisington, Spaulding, Green, Howland, 
Hastings and Miss Eliza Agnew, who had charge of 
the girls' boarding school at Oodooville, appeared among 
the earlier laborers in Ceylon. 

The following interesting incident, in which a faith- 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 41 

f ul Negro woman was the heroine, is related by Dr. Poor, 
and is worth relating and her name immortalized : 

In the beautiful island of Ceylon, many years ago, 
the native Christians, who had long worshiped in bunga- 
lows and old Dutch chapels, decided that they must have 
a church built for themselves. Enthusiastic givers were 
much eager to forward the new enterprise. But to the 
amazement of all, Maria Peabody— a lone orphan girl, 
who had been a beneficiary in the girls ' school at Oodoo- 
ville— came forward and offered to give the land upon 
which to build, which was the best site in her native 
village. 

Not only was it all she owned in this world, but far 
more — it was her marriage portion; and in making this 
gift, in the eyes of every native, she renounced all hopes 
of being married. As this alternative in the East was 
regarded as an awful step, many thought her beside 
herself, and tried to dissuade her from such an act of 
renunciation. "No, " said Maria, "I have given it to 
Jesus; and as he has accepted it, you must." And so 
to-day the first Christian church in Ceylon stands upon 
land given by a poor orphan girl. 

The deed was noised abroad, and came to the knowl- 
edge of a young theological student, who was also a bene- 
ficiary of the mission, and it touched his heart. Neither 
could he rest until he he had sought and won the rare 
and noble maiden who was willing to give up so much in 
her Master's name. 

Some one in the United States had been for years 
contributing twenty dollars annually for the support of 
this young Hindu girl, but the donor was unknown. The 



42 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

Rev. Dr. Poor, a missionary in Ceylon, visiting America 
about that time, longed to ascertain who was the faithful 
sower, and report the wonderful harvest. 

Finding himself in Hanover, New Hampshire, 
preaching to the students of Dartmouth College, he 
happened in conversation to hear some one speak of Mrs. 
Peabody, and repeated: "Peabody! What Peabody?" 
"Mrs. Maria Peabody, who resides here, the widow of a 
former professor," was the answer "0, I must see her 
before I leave ! ' ' said the earnest man, about to continue 
his journey. 

The first words after an introduction, at her house, 
were: "I have come to bring you a glad report; for 
I can not but think that it is to you we, in Ceylon, owe 
the opportunity of educating one who has proved as 
lovely and consistent a native convert as we have ever 
had. She is exceptionally interesting, devotedly pious, 
and bears your name." 

"Alas!" said the lady, "although the girl bears my 
name, I wish I could claim the honor of educating her; 
it belongs not to me, but to Louisa Osborne, my poor 
colored cook. Some years ago, in Salem, Massachusetts, 
she came to. me, after an evening meeting, saying: "I 
have just heard that if anybody would give twenty dol- 
lars a year they could support and educate a child in 
Ceylon, and I have decided to do it. They say that 
along with the money I can send a name, and I have 
come, Mistress, to ask if you would object to my sending 
yours?' At that time," continued the lady, "a ser- 
vant's wages ranged from a dollar to a dollar and a half 
a week, yet my cook had for a long time been contribut- 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 43 

ing half a dollar each month at the monthly concert for 
foreign missions. There were those who expostulated 
with her for giving away so much, for one in her circum- 
stances, as a time might come when she could not earn. 
'I have thought it all over/ she would reply, 'and con- 
cluded I would rather give w r hat I can while I am earn- 
ing ; and then if I lose my health and can not work, why 
there is the poor-house, and I can go there. You see, 
they have no poor-house in heathen lands, for it is only 
Christians who care for the poor.' " 

In telling this story, Dr. Poor used to pause here, 
and exclaim: "To the poor-house! Do you believe God 
would ever let that good woman die in the poor-house ? 
Never ! We shall see. ' ' 

The missionary learned that the last known of Louisa 
Osborne was that she was residing in Lowell, Massa- 
chusetts. In due time his duties called him to that city. 
At the close of an evening service, before a crowded 
house, he related among missionary incidents, as a crown- 
ing triumph, the story of Louisa Osborne and Maria 
Peabody. The disinterested devotion, self-sacrifice, and 
implicit faith and zeal of the Christian giver in favored 
America has been developed, matured, and well-nigh 
eclipsed by her faithful protege in far-off benighted 
India. His heart glowing with zeal, and deeply stirred 
by the fresh retrospect of the triumphs of the gospel over 
heathenism, he exclaimed : "If there is any one present 
who knows anything of that good woman, Louisa 
Osborne, and will lead me to her, I will be greatly 
obliged.' ' The benediction pronounced and the crowd 
dispersing, Dr. Poor passed down one of the aisles, chat- 



44 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

ting with the pastor, when he espied a quiet little figure 
apparently waiting for him. Could it be? Yes, it was 
a colored woman, and it must be Louisa Osborne. With 
quickened steps he reached her, exclaiming, in tones of 
suppressed emotion : ' ' I believe that this is my sister 
in Christ, Louisa Osborne V "That is my name," was 
the calm reply "Well, God bless you, Louisa! You 
have heard my report, and know ail ; but before we part, 
probably never to meet again in this world, I want you 
to answer me one question. What made you do it?" 
With downcast eyes, and in a low and trembling voice, 
she replied: "Well, I do not know, but I guess it was 
my Lord Jesus ! " 

They parted, only to meet in the streets of the New 
Jerusalem. 

The humble handmaiden of the Lord labored meekly 
on awhile, and in ending her failing days, not in a poor- 
house, verily, but, through the efforts of those who knew 
her best, in a pleasant, comfortable old ladies' home. 
"Him that honoreth me, I will honor." —Intelligencer. 

For thirty years a red star on the map of American 
Baptist Missions marked the only spot where they oper- 
ated work among the Telugus in Southern India. Dur- 
ing these years, with 16,000,000 speaking that language 
and the field one great waste of heathenism in its worst 
form, they succeeded in doing very little. Having 
labored so long in 1853, when the board met at Albany, 
New York, many suggested giving up the field. A great 
discussion ensued as to the wisdom of such a course. 
The pathetic story of the missionaries had touched many 
and so moved Dr. S. F. Smith, author of "America," 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 45 

that he wrote a hymn and dedicated it to this "Lone Star 
Mission/' It was this song, '■"Shine on Lone Star, thy 
radiance bright, shall yet illume the western sky," etc., 
that kindled a new interest in the work. 

In 1877 a revival broke out and thousands nocked 
to the missionaries bringing with them thousands of 
idols and gods of every conceivable character and casting 
them at their feet or in the yards, as a demonstration of 
their complete surrender to God. Having prayed and 
labored for years for success, yet when it came it came 
with such an overwhelming force that the missionaries 
could hardly stand the task of the long and tedious yet 
pleasant work of examining so many. Within ten 
months during this year 10,000 persons were baptized at 
Ongole. In 1866 they had only 38 converts. In 1890 
their converts numbered 33,838. The success of the 
missionaries is nearest that of the Pentecost on record, 
for in one day 2,222 persons were converted and they saw, 
as few men have seen, "a nation born in a day." This 
work alone is an inspiration to those who grow dis- 
couraged because their efforts do not bear immediate 
fruit. Thirty-five years with 16,000,000 before them 
yet only thirty-eight converts. But the time came when 
they witnessed the power of God above the inclinations 
of those millions to sin. 

The Presbyterians begun to do mission work in 1834 
in Telugu, India. Revs. Freeman, Campbell, Johnson 
and McMullin were among their early workers. It was 
at the request of the Presbyterian missionaries that the 
"Week for Prayer" was inaugurated, and is almost 
universally observed to this day. 



46 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



In 1856 the Methodists begun a distinct work in 
India, under Dr. William Butler. Their work has 
grown. 

Indeed, much attention has been given to India, and 
at present over sixty different societies are engaged in 
operating mission, educational and zenana work. 




UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 47 



BIETH OF BAPTIST ORGANIZATIONS. 

Organized efforts to prosecute missions were unknown 
among American Baptists prior to 1813. Throughout 
the country the denomination was overshadowed by 
other denominations and Baptist influence w T as a power 
nnfelt, unthought of. The fact that they had been 
unjustly taxed, fined and jailed for the testimony they 
bore, and other forms of persecution through which they 
had passed made them indeed the "sect everywhere 
spoken against." Their only school was Brown Uni- 
versity, Providence, R. I., and their only publication, 
The Baptist Missionary Magazine. Not until 1813, 
when Judson wrote Dr. Baldwin, of Boston, telling him 
©f his change to a Baptist, did American Baptists fully 
realize their obligation to the heathen world, and their 
ability to do' mission work independent of the mother 
country. Prior to this, American Baptists w T ere an 
auxiliary to the society of English Baptists. The request 
of Dr. Baldwin for organized effort for Mr. Judson 's sup- 
port met with the hearty approval of many of the lead- 
ing American Baptists, and the "Baptist Society for 
Propagating the Gospel in India and other Foreign 
Parts" was formed. Mr. Merriam, in his recent publi- 
cation, American Baptist Missions, says : " It is a strik- 
ing fact that the influence which called the Baptists of 
America from their lowly, unorganized condition, united 



48 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

and consolidated their strength, encouraged them to 
more vigorous efforts at home as well as abroad, and 
started them on the career which has given them power 
and standing among the foremost religious denomi- 
nations of America, was the call to engage in Foreign 
Missions." After the organization of the above-named 
society and the new interest kindled from Judson's cor- 
respondence, other societies were organized in Richmond, 
Va., Savannah, Ga., and New York. In 1814 organiza- 
tions were started in Baltimore, Md., Ehode Island and 
South Carolina. The clarion notes of Rev. JDr. Baldwin, 
inspired by Judson, awoke the Baptists in many of the 
other States, and soon there was a general falling in line. 
In May, 1814, through the efforts of the "Old Baptist 
Association," of Philadelphia, Penn., the first great 
meeting of Baptists in America was held. Eleven states 
and the District of Columbia were represented by 
twenty-six ministers and seven laymen. Rev. Dr. Fur- 
man, of South Carolina, was made president, and Rev. 
Baldwin, of Massachusetts, secretary. A constitution 
was adopted and the organization christened "The Gen- 
eral Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination 
of the United States for Foreign Missions." The con- 
stitution provided that the meetings be held triennially. 
Twenty-one persons constituted the Board of Commis- 
sioners, which board was known as the "Baptist Board 
cf Foreign Missions of the United States." Seven of 
the twenty-one members constituted a quorum for the 
transaction of businesss. After the convention ad- 
journed the board met, elected Rev. "Wm. Staughton as 
corresponding secretary, and adopted Rev. and Mrs. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 49 

Judson, already in Burma, as their missionaries. Rev. 
Luther Rice, who sailed with Judson, had returned to 
this country. Becoming a Baptist, he could not expect 
Congregational support, hence he returned to plan sup- 
port for the Judsons and himself. He was selected by 
the society as field agent to travel and interest the 
churches in missions. 

The Baptist Missionary Magazine had this to say of 
the first meeting: "Perhaps no event has ever taken 
place among the Baptist denomination in America which 
has excited more lively interest than the late Missionary 
Convention held in the city of Philadelphia. It was 
indeed a sight no less novel than interesting, to behold 
"brethren who had hitherto been unknown to each other 
by face, collecting from North to South, from nearly all 
of the States from Massachusetts to Georgia, (a distance 
of more than one thousand miles), for the important 
purpose of forming a General Convention, in order to 
concentrate the energies and direct the efforts of the 
whole denomination throughout the United States in 
sending the Gospel to the heathen. " 

The center of Baptist influence being in Massa- 
chusetts and Rhode Island, the second session of the 
convention met in Philadelphia also. This session lasted 
a week. Baptist preachers braved the dangers of Indians 
and ferocious animals, yea "counted not their lives dear 
unto themselves, ' ' but from Kenucky and other States 
west of the Alleghanies made their way to the meeting 
that they might pray and plan to send the Gospel of our 
Lord to all nations/' 

While this reformation and organization and general 



50 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

getting together of Baptists was going on throughout the 
country, their actions were being watched by another 
race— the Negro — who had not been thought of in 
connection with the new movement ; indeed, many Amer- 
icans doubted that Negroes in America or Africa had 
souls. But the Negroes entertained no such doubts, for, 
while toiling hard and faithfully as slaves, a fire was 
being lighted on the hearts of many of them which so 
burned their consciences, respecting their duties to their 
brethren far removed from the Gospel, that they, on 
bended knees, in prison houses of bondage, cried to Al- 
mighty God to lead them out in order that they might 
help their own. In 1814, just one year after their masters 
had organized, the "African Baptist Missionary Society" 
was formed. These poor, faithful slaves, out of a heart 
of gratitude to God, were anxious to shed light in their 
fatherland, but in their poverty they were unable 
to pay the passage of a missionary, but were de- 
termined to hold intact until the way was opened. 
Through great sacrifices they raised $700 in four years, 
and the white general convention came to their aid in 
1819, and one year later Lot Carey and Colin Teague 
sailed for Sierra Leone. 

At the eighth anual session of the General Mission- 
ary Convention, 1835, religious enthusiasm reached its 
highest mark. 

The board was told to employ every ' ' properly quali- 
fied missionary" available in some part of the foreign 
field. Missions in India were agreed upon. The Amer- 
ican Bible and Tract Society had from time to time con- 
tributed to the General Convention's work. In 1836, 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 51 

at a meeting held by the Board of Managers, at Hart- 
ford, Conn., the American Bible Society offered the Bap- 
tists $5,000 for missions on certain conditions, which 
conditions were referred to a committee. It will be 
remembered that when Judson translated the Bible into 
Bengali and put it into the hands of the people a howl 
was set np and objections made by Pedo-Baptists. Thus 
the conditions upon which the $5,000 was offered. The 
following is the report of the committee : 

■ ; The committee recommended to the Board the adop- 
tion of the following preamble and resolution : 

Whereas, This Board, at their annual meeting, held 
in Salem, in April, 1833, adopted the following reso- 
lutions : 

Resolved, That the Board feel it to be their duty to 
adopt all prudent measures to give to the heathen the 
pure word of God in their own languages, and to furnish 
their missionaries with all the means in their power to 
make the translations as exact a representation of the 
mind of the Holy Spirit as may be possible. 

Resolved, That all the missionaries of the Board, who 
are, or who shall be, engaged in translating the Scrip- 
tures, be instructed to endeavor, by earnest prayer and 
diligent study, to ascertain the exact meaning of the 
original text ; to express that meaning, as exactly as the 
nature of the languages into which they shall translate 
the Bible will permit; and to transfer no words which 
are capable of being literally translated. 

And Whereas, The Board still adheres firmly to 
these resolutions, as expressing, in their judgment, the 
only true principle on which translations can be made; 



52 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

and as uttering what they believe to be the decided 
opinion of the great mass of the denomination whom 
they represent : Therefore, 

Resolved, That the Board of Managers of the Ameri- 
can Bible Society be respectfully informed that this 
Board cannot, consistently and conscientiously, comply 
with the conditions on which appropriations are now 
made, and cannot therefore accept the sum appropriated 
by the Board of Managers on the 17th of March, 1836. 

2. Mr. Brigham further informs the secretary of 
the Board, that it is in contemplation to send Bible 
agents to several of the large missionary stations abroad, 
to take charge of the interests of the Bible cause so far 
as the American Bible Society is concerned. It is de- 
signed that the agent, in each case, be of the denomina- 
tion to which the missionaries on the ground belong. 
Would it ,sir, be agreeable to your Board, to have such 
an agent sent to any of your stations ? 

The committee recommend the adoption of the f ollow- 
ing resolution : 

Resolved, That in the present state of things, ttue 
Board cannot perceive that the appointment of an agent 
of the American Bible Society, at any of their stations, 
would subserve any valuable purpose. 

The committee further recommend the adoption of 
the following preamble and resolution : 

Whereas, The Board have been impelled, by a con- 
scientious conviction of duty, to decline accepting the 
appropriation of funds made, on certain conditions, by 
the Board of Managers of the American Bible Society; 
as the translation, printing and distribution of the sacred 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 53 

Scriptures in the languages of the heathen are vitally 
connected with the glory of God and with the salvation 
of men ; and as the American Baptists enjoy great facili- 
ties for prosecuting this important work : Therefore, 

Resolved, That our brethren throughout the Union be 
most earnestly requested to adopt measures in their 
churches, associations, missionary societies, or by any 
other suitable means, so to augment the funds of the 
Board, that the work of translating, printing and dis- 
tributing the word of God, in heathen tongues, may be 
prosecuted with diligence and energy commensurate 
with the grandeur and surpassing importance of the 
enterprise. ' ' 

These men were not to be bought when the souls of 
men were at stake. Our Pedo brethren went further. 
A body of Baptists in New York during the year or- 
ganized the American Foreign Mission Society with a 
view of publishing the Bible for heathen people with- 
out veneering, but the act to incorporate by the legis- 
lature was defeated through the influence of those who 
objected to having "One Lord, one faith and one bap- 
tism" taught throughout the world. Various efforts 
were made to have Baptists modify their views and co- 
operate with the Bible Society, but all proved a failure. 
In course of time, however, the Bible Society revised its 
by-laws, leaving out the section which had driven the 
Baptists out, with a hope of regaining their co-operation, 
but the spirit of the society was yet against the circu- 
lation of the Burman and Korean versions of the Scrip- 
tures. This is shown by the fact that in 1880 the Amer- 



54 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

ican Baptist Missionary Union made application for a 
grant from their Bible fund and was refused. Their 
refusal proved a God-send in time, for in 1883, at a most 
enthusiastic Baptist meeting held in Saratoga, N. Y., all 
foreign Bible work by American Baptists was put in 
charge of the Missionary Union. 

It is but just to say in connection with Foreign Mis- 
sion work of American Baptists that the slavery question 
played its part. The agitation against this awful curse 
had grown until 1840, whenever the Northern and 
Southern Christians met, the friends and enemies of 
man-stealing were bound to be heard. A majority of the 
leaders in Baptist ranks seems to have opposed the insti- 
tution, but the friends of slavery insisted on having slave 
holders sent as missionaries. 

While organized work by American Baptists was 
assuming a permanent shape, and the zeal for Foreign 
Missions was growing, a general restlessness between 
the Northern and Southern States was becoming evident. 
1840 marks the time when the men who had met and 
planned, labored and prayed for the spreading of the 
Gospel, felt the first throb of agitation that would beat 
until North and South would stand apart in the work 
in which they had been engaged for twenty-seven years. 
Realizing that an agitation was on and in its desire to 
head it off, November 2, 1840, the Acting Board of the 
Convention issued a circular setting forth the fact that 
the Convention would remain neutral on the question 
of slavery. 

In 1842 what was known as the "Provisional Foreign 
Mission Committee of the American Baptist Anti- 
Slavery Convention" was formed. This body sought 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 55 

to have the Acting Board clearly define its position 
which occasioned a second publication of a resolution 
adopted in 1840 to the effect that the General Conven- 
tion would not take sides with the pro nor anti-slavery 
party. AVhen the Convention met in its Eleventh Tri- 
ennial Session at Philadelphia the feeling had grown 
more bitter. 

At this meeting the Board again attempted to stamp 
upon the minds of its members the neutrality of its 
policy, but the agitation, though smuggled by resolutions 
and stifled by timidity and the usual policy crowd, 
threatened in this session to break out in a stronger and 
a more determined manner. This was the last meeting 
in which the Baptists of America ever met in a solid 
body under one organization. When the Board held 
its annual meeting at Providence, R. I., April 30, 1845, 
it found itself called upon to take one side or the other 
en the question, and while they still wavered the Ala- 
bama Convention wrote asking a very pertinent question 
as to the appointment of slave holders as missionaries. 

The Board replied that no slave holder would be 
chosen as a missionary. 

This struck the line that split the North and South 
in Church work. The Foreign Mission Society of Vir- 
ginia, the cradle of slavery and the hot-bed of the re- 
bellion, at once seized the opportunity to unite all re- 
ligious leaders who were in favor of slavery into one 
band. 

A call was issued by them and a large and enthusias- 
tic meeting of Southern Baptists was held at Augusta, 
Ga. ? May 8, 1845. This meeting resulted in the forma- 



56 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

tion of the Southern Baptist Convention with a Home 
and Foreign Mission Board. The action was deplored 
by all well-thinking men. One can thus see how dear 
to the hearts was the institution of slavery to some 
men. This bitter feeling was not only confined to the 
Baptist denomination, but in the Methodist and other 
denominations, men agreed until forbearance gave 
out and they disagreed, and these united bodies with 
their anti-slavery agitators, whose voices were heard 
in thunder tones against professed Christians reading 
and pretending to believe a Bible which declares "God 
hath made of one blood all nations to dwell upon the 
whole earth/' where the Fatherhood of God and tne 
brotherhood of man are so clearly taught, were awaken- 
ing a sentiment that foretold the death of that "sum of 
all villainy ''—slavery. 

As men agitated the moral phase of human slavery 
and were moved to search the Scriptures and to read 
God's words of condemnation, their hearts were stirred 
and the conflict waxed warm. Then came the rending of 
sections and the divisions of denominations. Baptists 
North and South stood apart. The conflict in the Metho- 
dist Church gave birth- to the M. E. Church North and 
M. E. Church South. The same fate met the Presby- 
terians, and thus, under distinct leaderships, church 
Avork was almost revolutionized. 

The throwing of responsibility upon the South and 
the North, apart, brought about a spirit of rivalry. 
An ambition to excel as well as to hold their own 
was seen on all sides. In this great issue men took 
sides, and while one body stood for the most dis- 



• UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 57 

graceful and cursed institution on earth, its followers 
were loyal to their convictions, and with renewed energy 
went to work. The war came on and these bodies 
still held intact, upholding their separate policies as to 
slavery. The conflict on battle field ended, and the 
South found in her lap 4,000,000 freedmen on constitu- 
tional equality with her w T hite population, and from 
whom slavery had sapped the life of intelligence, of 
morality and of manhood and womanhood. The ques- 
tion was, what shall we do with them and for them ? 

Northern Baptists, true to their sense of Christian 
duty, stretched forth their mighty arms to lead those 
for whom they had freely given up the ties that bound 
North and South in Christian work twenty years before, 
and in great numbers and many means came among us 
and lifted us up and taught us that we were men and 
women, created equal, and capable of every possible de- 
velopment. This gave new life and new inspiration to 
the entire race. The Southern Baptist Convention faced 
the issue with no degree of slackness, for it realized that 
slavery was forever gone and the Negro by his labor, 
sweat and tears had been the glory of the South, and the 
source of its wealth for more than two hundred years, 
and that hundreds of dollars paid in exchange for slaves 
had gone to help in its mission work. Therefore this 
body in many ways came nobly to the aid of its recently 
emancipated brothers. What has been done by these 
Christian organizations would require hours to tell. For 
they have not as yet abandoned us to our fate, but have 
labored unceasingly among us and for us, by establish- 
ing schools in nearly every Southern State, where we 



58 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS 

so long and loyally labored, without money and without 
price. 

We have thus seen how American Baptists begun 
their work as one solid body ; how they labored together 
for thirty-two years ; how, when the crisis came, men did 
not fight each other by slander and abuse, but like men 
took the side which they felt justified in supporting. 
Their freedom from the spirit of abuse and finding fault 
and criticising the methods of each other proved con- 
clusively that though they differed so widely on one 
subject their hearts were right toward each other. The 
methods nor the honesty of no man nor set of men in 
either opposing body were ever questioned. 

Because men can not agree on certain principles there 
is no reason why they should not be brethren. The 
example of these men in this is worthy of emulation. 

But let us consider another organization that was the 
outgrowth of differences, though of an inferior and 
less important nature. We give elsewhere the organi- 
zation of Negro Baptists to do mission work at home and 
abroad. Like our white brethren, the time came when 
differences arose, but unlike them, in that manhood 
was disarmed, and under a pretense akin to deception, 
they broke off from the National body, formed the Dis- 
trict Convention, an unnecessary body, void of the true 
spirit. This small band of Baptists soon found an excuse 
for forming a convention which was pushed into exist- 
ence in 1899, under the name of "Lot Carey Foreign 
Missions Convention/ ' It was organized in Baltimore 
with the following officers : 

Rev. C. S. Brown, President, Winton, N. C; Rev. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 59 

H. L. Barco, Vice President, Virginia ; Rev. H. C. Robin- 
son, Second Vice President, Pennsylvania; Rev. A. 
Brown, Third Vice President, Maryland; Rev. Wm. 
Troy, Fourth Vice President, New Jersey; Rev. W. P. 
Gibbons, Fifth Vice President, District of Columbia; 
Rev. W. H. Scott, Sixth Vice President, Massachusetts; 
Rev. A. W. Pegues, Recording Secretary, Raleigh, N. C. ; 
Rev. W. M. Alexander, Corresponding Secretary, Balti- 
more, Md. ; Rev. J. M. Armstead, Treasurer, Portsmouth, 
Va. ; Rev. J. R. Waller, Auditor, Baltimore, Md. ; Rev. 
W. T. Minter, Statistical Secretary, Salisbury, N. C. 

It will be remembered that soon after the formation 
of the District Convention application was made to the 
American Baptist Missionary Union for affiliation. We 
give below the report of the Executive Committee of the 
American Baptist Missionary Union which appeared in 
their magazine in May, 1898 : 



"In the month of December, 1897, overtures were made to 
our committee by a number of colored brethren of the South, 
organized in Richmond, Va., under the name of the District 
Convention of Colored Brethren. This convention made pro- 
posals to us for some plan of co-operation with the Missionary 
Union, whereby it might actively engage in work in Africa. 
The Executive Committee responded by offering to co-operate 
with this convention on the following basis: The convention 
of the colored people to adopt and sustain their own methods 
of organization and of raising funds; to select and appoint 
their own missionaries, with the understanding that the ap- 
pointment shall be subject to the approval of the Executive 
Committee of the Missionary Union; and to maintain such 
communication with them as may, in their judgment, seem 
desirable; the Missionary Union to pay one-half of the salary 
of a traveling or district secretary, to supply literature to a 
reasonable extent to the representatives of the convention 
who were to visit churches, and to give the officers and repre- 
sentatives of the convention the benefit of the advice and ex- 



60 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

perience of the Union in the matter of collecting- funds and 
carrying" on the home work of missions, the funds collected 
to be remitted monthly to the Treasurer of the Missionary 
Union, after deducting necessary expenses and the conven- 
tion's one-half of the secretary's salary, the Union affording 
to the convention all the benefit of its established agencies for 
the transmission of funds and the conduct of the mission 
work on the field; the Union also, if desired, to assign to the 
convention the Mukimvika Station, on the Congo, with the 
support of the missionary located there; to regularly transmit 
funds for the support of the missionaries and of the work as 
may be appropriate, with the understanding- that any tempo- 
rary deficiency which may occur in the funds furnished by 
the association shall be supplied by the Union, to an amount 
not exceeding $500 annually, the said deficiency to be made up 
subsequently. 

"The Convention of Colored Baptists responded by sug- 
gesting some modification of the terms, to the extent of hav- 
ing a representation upon the Executive Committee, and 
that the Union pay one-half of the traveling expenses of the 
traveling* secretary. The Union declined to accede to the lat- 
ter suggestions. Since this, our last communication,, no reply 
has been received from the convention at Richmond, Va." 

It will be seen that in 1887 the leaders of the Dis- 
trict Convention received this refusal to give them 
official recognition, and the report made in May says: 
"No reply has been received from the Convention at 
Richmond/' Their objection to sending their money to a 
white organization to be sent to the field when they 
could have no official relations with that organization, 
we thought, a manly one, but, in the face of the objection 
and their future attempts, we must conclude that they 
did not mean a word of it. In important matters like 
this, where the interest of the whole people is at stake, 
men ought to be slow to decide, but when they do decide 
to take certain views they ought to stick to them. Their 
change of views was more plainly demonstrated in 
1901 when they agreed to have the Missionary Union 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 61 

look after the sending of the money of the Lot Carey 
Convention to Mr. and Mrs. Boone, who sailed during 
the year for the Congo. These are the first persons the 
new organization has ever sent out as missionaries, and 
it may be that their inexperience in conducting mission 
work of their own makes it expedient that they get 
the Union to attend to the sending of their money to pay 
their missionary. Then, too, the lack of funds to carry on 
the work doubtless made it necessary that they seek this 
relation that the Union might loan them money from 
time to time and they pay it back when raised among 
their followers in North Carolina, Virginia, Western 
Pennsylvania and Maryland. But it is safe to say that 
where men shift responsibilities they also shift interest 
and make of their followers weaklings. When a man 
knows he will get his money whether he earns it or not, 
or in any way be able to secure it until it is made, he is 
less determined to succeed or to make it. Whatever may 
be said of the division of the North and South in relig- 
ious work it was the means of developing stronger or- 
ganizations, for responsibilities were laid heavily upon 
each section, and they had no other alternative, and like 
men they applied themselves to the task. 

Let Negro Baptists throw the responsibility of their 
work where they will, but if once removed from their 
own shoulders decay and destruction awaits it. The 
National Convention, with all of its Boards, stands for 
co-operation with any white or black organization that 
stands for co-operation and not subjugation. Ours is 
ours, and we bought it with a price too dear to lose it, 
and, God helping us, we will keep it and get more. The 



62 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

noble records of the Northern White Baptists, the South- 
ern White Baptists and the National Baptist Conven- 
tion is without parallel in the records of church history.. 
May each live to give long and grand service in this and 
other lands. 




UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 63 



THE FIELD. 

c i Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields ; for they 
are white already to harvest. ' ' 

India, China, Japan, Korea, West Indies, Spanish 
America and the Isles of the Pacific. 

INDIA. 

' i Cast off the mask and shed the light of truth upon 
the scene. " 

India, at whose portals Christianity has stood knock- 
ing, knocking for over a century, is gradually opening 
her doors to the onward march. 

The evangelization of India is said to be the most 
stupendous enterprise the Church of God has ever under- 
taken. India is about the size of Europe, Russia ex- 
cepted. The greater portion lies within the topics. The 
population is beyond conception, numbering nearly 
300,000,000 souls. The religions and languages are 
numerous, but Hindooism and Mohammedanism are the 
prevailing religions. 

Although of great antiquity, India is comparatively 
unknown by the civilized world. The East India Com- 
pany began its trade there in 1600, but they avoided 
interference with the religious customs. This company 



64 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

was abolished in 1858. Little was done for India 8 until 
the opening of the Nineteenth century. Wm. Carey's 
work of which we have spoken was the first of any impor- 
tance. Ward and Marshman joined him later, and their 
labors paved the way for Henry Martyn, Heber, Alex. 
Duff, Nott, Hall, Judson, Rice, Poor and many others. 

In 1856, Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists were 
zealously at work. The mission stations under various 
boards and denominations studded the country, and 
much attention was given to educational, medical and 
the zenana work because of the satisfactory results in 
the work of India's evangelization. 

The introduction of printing presses for the publica- 
tion of Bibles and religious periodicals, medical work y 
zenana work and the vigilant work among the millions 
of its widows has done more to open the way for mission 
work than can be told. 

The desire for education among the Hindoos, and 
especially for their girls, is encouraging, and though they 
are removed from school at a tender age the good in- 
structions given by Christian teachers are hard to efface. 

Supplementing the school work is the printing press, 
through which has passed millions of Bibles in every 
language spoken in India, besides school books, news- 
papers and tracts by the thousands. 

Medical missionaries are doing great service in ad- 
ministering to the bodies as w T ell as the souls of the 
natives. The zenana work deserves special mention. 
Women in these secluded sections, thousands and thou- 
sands in number, can never hear of God nor of the story 
of the Cross, save as they hear it from the lips of female 




\. 



"■.; 



mmm 









c" 





REV. L M. LUKE, D. D. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 65 

missionaries. Mrs. Mullins, wife of an English mission- 
ary, of Calcutta, has immortalized herself in the hearts 
of Hindoo women in these secluded places by her work 
and books. 

The saddest of all in this great field of heathenism, 
is that there dwell over five million widows, fourteen 
thousand of whom are under five years of age. God is 
opening the way to deliver these babes from the curse 
of the law, for already Pundita Ramabai, a Brahmin 
widow, with millions of dollars, has accepted Christianity 
and today gives shelter to more than three hundred of 
these little widows whose lives have been shrouded in 
despair. The American and European force of laborers 
number over 2,000 men and women with nearly 4,000 
native helpers. But when we think of the millions that 
tread that soil, and the great hold of superstition and 
idolitry upon them, with the disciples we exclaim, "What 
are these among so many ? ' ' 

CHINA. 

Lift up your heads oh ye gates, even be ye lifted up ye 
everlasting doors, and the King- of glory will come in. 

China, the oldest nation in the world, has stood firmly 
and defiantly against Christianity for centuries, almost 
impregnable. Her 500,000,000 souls have the sympathy 
of the Christian world. Three religions— Confucianism, 
Taoism and Buddhism— have rooted themselves into the 
very being of her national life. As early as the Sixth 
century the Nestorians attempted mission work in China, 



66 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

and since then effort after effort has been made to break 
down idolatry. The work gradually developed until 1736, 
when Matteo Ricci and his followers were expelled from 
the empire. Then China shut her doors against Chris- 
tianity. At the beginning of the Nineteenth century 
the subject of missions was engaging the attention of the 
world, and China being such a gigantic field the London 
Missionary Society determined to take up the work. 
Robt. Morrison went to the field in 1807. His knowledge 
of the Chinese language enabled him to be of great serv- 
ice in translating the Bible and publishing catechisms 
and tracts. His patience and forbearance is unparalleled 
in missionary history. He gave twenty-seven years of 
hard, earnest labor with only three or four converts. 

The opening of a hospital by Dr. Peter Parker in 
1836 helped to disarm prejudice, and this, with war and 
famine, was the means of opening many doors. Rev. 
John Griffith, Rev. Dr. Mackenzie, Rev. Dr. Howard and 
Rev. J. H. Taylor, who labored so zealously in China, did 
much to open the way for more missionaries. 

It is remarkable that China with all of her heathen- 
ism and barred doors against Christianity, how God has 
spared her. Of that ancient forest one tree alone stands. 
Greece, Rome, Babylon, Macedonia and Egypt have 
passed away, but China has been kept from entire col- 
lapse. Morally she is rotten to the core. 

From floods, Avar and pestilence China has lost mil- 
lions. It is said that 20,000,000 lives were lost in the 
Taiping rebellion, and in the famine of 1877-78 carried 
away over six millions, yet, today, 400,000,000 souls— 
the most gigantic work the Christian Church ever had 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 67 

upon her — are within its confines. The day will come 
when God shall marshal His forces, march them around 
the wall, blowing trumpets and singing songs until those 
ancient walls shall fall and with the other nations of the 
world China shall shake glad hands. 

In June, 1900, after months of threatening, the 
Boxers, mainly peasants and illiterate natives, who com- 
bined the various forms of paganism against Chris- 
tianity, like a cloud-burst, stirred the Christian world 
by their attack upon misionaries, diplomats and indeed 
all foreigners and native Christians within the walls. 

Churches and mission stations were burned and lega- 
tions exposed to their fananticisms. This led the Chinese 
to declare war and a general uprising ensued. For 
months the fight went on, and at one time.it seemed that 
the world would be involved. Missionaries, envoys and 
their families and all foreigners had to make their escape 
or perish at the hands of the merciless Boxers. Over 
175 missionaries were massacred. The cause of all this, 
they claim, was because foreigners were seizing their ter- 
ritory, getting possession of their maritime customs, 
building railroads and insulting their gods. 

JAPAN. 

The population of Japan is over 40,000,000. The re- 
ligion is Shinto — a form of nature worship — Confucian 
and Buddhist. Francis Xavier was the first missionary 
to visit Japan. He landed in 1549. For a while the work 
flourished— but the government became suspicious, fear- 
ing the political influence of the priesthood, and begun 



68 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

to persecute Christians. For more than two centuries 
she shut her doors against them. It was not until the 
middle of the Nineteenth century that through the 
providence of God, America opened the doors of Japan 
and Protestant missionaries were soon sent to the field. 
Messrs. Liggins, AYilliams, Brown, Verback and Sim- 
mons were the first. In 1860 Jonathan Goble, the first 
Baptist missionary, went to Japan and was joined by 
Nathan Brown in 1872. In 1873 they organized the first 
Baptist Church with eight members, three of which were 
Japanese. The names of J. H. Arthur, J. H. Rheese, 
Thos. P. Poate and Albert A. Bennett and wife are 
among the most zealous and consecrated missionaries to 
Japan. The Southern Baptist Convention made its first 
attempt at mission work in Japan in 1860. Kev. J. Q. A. 
Eohrer and wife set sail in that year. The parting scene 
between mother and daughter, as the ill-fated Edwin 
Forest was about to leave port, was very touching indeed. 
In a prayer of agony the mother committed the daughter 
to the care of Almighty Cod. As she was about to take 
her leave, the daughter in an effort to console her broken- 
hearted mother, said, "Mother, with the exception of 
parting from you, this is the happiest day of my life. 
If we are lost at sea, death will find us in the path of 
duty. ' ' They were lost. Just as the vessel was entering 
Hong Kong harbor she capsized and all w r ent down and 
were buried in a watery grave. It was not until 1889 
that the Southern Baptists again attempted work in 
Japan, and they are now doing some work in co-opera- 
tion with the Missionary Union. The latest accounts are 
encouraging. Over 40,000 native Christians, 365 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 69 

churches, 30 different missionary societies, with about 
675 missionaries, and over 800 native helpers are on 
the field. 

KOREA. 

Korea, called by the natives "Chosen," is a penin- 
sula between the Yellow and Japan Seas. It has an area 
of 80,000 square miles, and a population of 14,000,000/ 

The Koreans are said to be a cross between the 
Chinese and the Japanese. Like China, she closed her 
doors to Christianity centuries ago, and not until 1882 
were her ports opened to commerce. Buddhism and 
Confucianism are the prevailing religions. The first 
Protestant missionary, Rev. John Eoss, went there in 
1873, under the Presbyterian Board. Later Dr. Allen 
went, and afterward a number of Presbyterian and 
Methodist missionaries went out, and to-day there are 
about 1,200 communicants and 2,000 catechumens. 

WEST INDIES. 

In these islands slavery sunk the vast Negro popula- 
tion into the lowest depths of sin and degradation. The 
Moravian brethren went to the island in 1733, and were 
struck with pity for these chained and speechless victims 
toiling under the yoke of human bondage. Many years 
of perils and hardships were experienced by them as they 
labored, and many of them died. 

The earliest preaching by Baptists in the West Indies 
was done by a Negro, George Lisle, of Virginia. He was 
licensed in 1777. He went to Kingston, 1783, and formed 



70 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

a church consisting of four members, refugees from the 
United States. By 1792, he had baptized 500 persons. 
There arose a bitter feeling against his effort to give 
Negroes the Gospel, and his meetings were often dis- 
turbed, and he himself imprisoned. A white man once 
entered his chapel on horseback and said: "Old Lisle, 
give my horse the sacrament !" Mr. Lisle with becom- 
ing dignity, replied: "No, sir, you are not fit yourself 
to receive it. ? ' Against many obstacles the church flour- 
ished. In 1841 the membership numbered 3,700 per- 
sons. Rev. John Rowe went to Kingston under the Bap- 
tist Missionary Society of London in 1813, and in 1817 
Mr. and Mrs. Coultart went to the island as missionaries. 

You have doubtless stood and watched the clouds as 
they hung heavy overhead, and noticed how they 
rolled and tumbled, and how the wind would shove 
them off, and how they would blacken, as if with mad- 
ness, amid the pealing thunder and fierce lightning, and 
then the whole earth enveloped in darkness, and the 
clouds would threaten to pour forth torrents of rain. 
By and by the matchless sun in all of his power would 
burst forth and with commanding brightness declare : 
* ' I am ruler of day, ' ' and would take his place in the ■ 
heavens and reign in splendor and brightness. Kings- 
ton, where Lisle had labored for years, at his death wit- 
nessed the awful darkness of oppression and cruelty, a 
long and dark day, and dark day it was, for it was not 
until 1824, when Rev. Wm. Knibb, an Englishman, came 
to the island, did there appear any hope for the 
oppressed. 

The window in Market Street, Bristol, England, is a 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 71 

resort for travelers who know the story of this lover of 
humanity. It was from this window that his mother 
called him back as he left for the West Indies, and said : 
"Remember, William, I would rather hear that you had 
perished at sea than that you had disgraced the cause 
you go to serve*. Little did this champion of the Negroes 
of Kingston know that his would be a terrible ordeal. 
In the insurrection of the slaves in 1828, he was charged 
with conspiracy with the Negroes and tried, but over 
bribes and false witnesses the court declared him 
guiltless. 

Determined to revenge the missionary, British 
troops burned his chapel to the ground and incited a 
mob to complete the work of destruction. Their deeds of 
violence amounted to quite £24,000 ($120,000) . In 1832, 
soon after this insurrection, Mr. Knibbs visited England 
and stirred the entire country by his thrilling story 
of the treatment of the natives. The government made 
a grant of £11,000 ($55,000), and the public £14,000 
($70,000) in response to his appeals. His return to 
Jamaica was hailed with joy by the Negro population. 
He built several large chapels and did much to bring 
about the Emancipation Act of 1833. 

In 1844, he erected a theological school for the train- 
ing of Negroes for the Christian ministry. His zeal 
and dauntless courage were an inspiration to his black 
brothers, and it was the inspiration received from his 
life that led Keith, a native African w r ho had come to 
this island a refugee, to determine to work his way 
back to that dark land and preach the Gospel on the 
very spot from which he was sold. 



72 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

As long as the faintest spark of the influences of 
Christianity remain in the West Indies the names of 
George Lisle, a Negro and the first Baptist missionary, 
and Rev. William Knibbs will live. 

The year 1842, will long be remembered in Jamaica 
for its great ingathering of sonls. 

Mr. Mursell Phillipo went to Jamaica in 1823, and 
gave long and excellent service. One of his converts, 
Mr. Geo. W. Gordon, a Negro, was one of the wealthiest 
and most influential men in the island. In 1863 Mr. 
Gordon was elected a member of the House of Assembly 
for one of the parishes. His influence and ability won for 
him the enmity of the acting governor, E. J. Eyre, who 
made memorable the year 1865 by his high-handed 
proceedings. With his approbation thousands of houses 
were burned, 600 men and women flogged with fine 
wire whips heated at the ends. Mr. Gordon fell a victim 
to his inhuman wrath and was executed for treason with- 
out any evidence of the crime being produced. The 
English government became stirred by his acts of cruelty 
investigated matters and dismissed from office, called to 
England, and his friends spent over $50,000 in buying 
his acquittal. He was finally lost in obscurity. 

Mr. Phillipo died in 1879, after fifty years of toil 
among the Negroes who loved him as their friend. 

Geo. Givens, a Negro from one of the Southern 
States, planted, amid persecution and often imprison- 
ment, a Baptist church in St. Thomas-in-the-Vale. Many 
hundreds were converted under his preaching. To avoid 
persecution he often held his meetings in caves of the 
mountains, and in other unfrequented places in the 
darkness of the night. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 73 

It was in a far-off swamp he secretly bought and 
erected a house where he and his rapidly increasing 
flock might worship God unmolested, but like the slave 
he was hunted, whipped and imprisoned. True to his 
God, however, he preached as long as he was able. He 
died in 1826. 

In 1834, slavery was abolished in the islands under 
British rule, after which missionary societies in England 
and America took up the work with new zeal. Success 
has crowned their efforts in the establishment of 
churches, schools and a general improvement among 
the people. 

In Cuba the slave trade was not suppressed until 
1886. Catholicism has been for centuries the established 
religion, and where Rome rules, ignorance and cruelty 
are rampart. Since the Spanish- American war, in 1898, 
a religious revolution has taken place, and ere long it is 
hoped that Cuba, whose legends for years dripped with 
a silent horror of blood, will take her place beside the 
other Christian nations of the earth. 

In 1898, the Foreign Mission Board sent Rev. D. N. 
E. Campbell, M. D., and wife — the former a medical 
missionary — to this field, but nothing tangible was ever 
reported by him. Cuba's proximity and relation to the 
United States make it a home field. A Baptist train- 
ing school in this new field would, to our minds, be of 
great service to those so recently emancipated from 
Catholicism and oppression. 

One of the most romantic and interesting missions 
to be found anywhere is that founded in Havana in 
1883 by Mr. Albert Jose Diaz. He had served in the 



74 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

struggle for freedom as a captain of the insurgents, and 
was driven to America by merciless Spanish soldiers who 
pursued him wherever he took refuge. At last, with a 
plank as his bark and necessity as his oar, he pushed out 
in midstream and came near losing his life. A fishing 
boat picked him up and carried him to New York. 
Pneumonia seized him and for weeks he lay ill in a city 
hospital. His nurse was a devout Christian woman who 
talked with him on the Bible and conversion. It was in 
this hospital that he accepted Christ. When amnesty 
was proclaimed he returned to Havana but a disloyal, 
unchristian family refused to receive him, and he re- 
solved to return to America. He came and was welcomed 
by those who were with him in his days of illness. 
Soon he was baptized and joined the Gethsemane Bap- 
tist Church of Brooklyn. He made application to the 
American Baptist Home Mission Society, but for want 
of funds they could not employ him. In 1883 the Wo- 
man's Bible Society of Philadelphia sent him to Cuba 
as missionary. A short time after this he was transferred 
to the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Con- 
vention under which he has served ever since. 

Much success attended his efforts, and in 1889 it was 
necessary to secure larger quarters. Jane Theatre of 
Havana was purchased at a cost of $65,000 and dedi- 
cated as the G-ethsemane Baptist Church, which with 
its branch churches has between two and three thousand 
members. 

The Roman Catholic bishop and priests soon became 
envious of his success, and from time to time imprisoned 
Diaz and some of his workers. The United States Consul 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 75 

came to their rescue and had them released. His tireless 
efforts in the establishment of Eed Cross stations dur- 
ing the Spanish- American war again caused his arrest, 
and was released only on his promise to leave the coun- 
try. He rendered valuable service as an interpreter 
after the intervention of the United States in behalf of 
Cuba. He returned after the war and begun to re- 
organize the mission work which had gone to pieces dur- 
ing the Avar. 

By agreement the Home Mission Board of the South- 
ern Baptist Convention and the American Baptist Home 
Mission Society divided the island. The Southern Board 
operates in the Western part, including Havana and the 
towns in which they had worked before the recent war, 
and the Home Mission Society in the two Eastern 
provinces and Porto Rico. Much success has attended 
their efforts. 

The mission, in Bahama was begun in 1833. But it 
is not to be understood that this was the first attempt, 
for it was in 1812 when Negro Baptist ministers begun 
work on the islands. The Church of England and the 
Wesleyans had also been at work for somo time, but had 
confined their efforts to the whites and free Negroes, 
hence, through neglect, the masses were untouched, and 
their moral and religious conditions the most deplorable. 
Rev. J. Burton begun work among these neglected people 
and soon material results were seen. Rev. Daniel Wil- 
shere, New Providence, has charge of the whole work 
now. For 1901, he reports four churches on that island, 
a good B. Y. P. U., day and Sabbath schools. Eleuthera, 
San Salvador, "Worthings, Little Exuma, Great Exuma, 



76 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

Andros, The Exuma Cays and Barrterra, each, have one 
or more churches or mission stations, aggregating 133, 
with a membership of 2,100, and 2,000 children in Sab- 
bath schools. The Canadian Baptists, with some Amer- 
ican friends, are aiding Mr. AVilshere in his work. 

But it is regretted that no attention is given to the 
training of natives for the work of the ministry. In all 
the island, we are told, there is not a church preparing 
a native as preacher nor teacher. How can we hope to 
master the mighty darkness of heathenism unless we 
realize with Bishop Patterson that "no church can take 
root without a native clergy. " God has so arranged it 
that each man knows his own, and can better reach their 
sympathies and kindle their interests than one who has 
to study the character and habits of those whom he tries 
to serve. 

Mr. Wilshere, while doing an excellent work, if sup- 
plemented by a few native helpers would do double the 
work. As overseer of the interests of all Baptists in New 
Providence he must be a vicar of Washington Irving 's 
day. The Church must awake to this oversight and pre- 
pare natives to preach to natives. The Scriptures plainly 
set forth this fact in the case of Moses being sent to 
Israel, and Ezekiel is told more than once, "Go to thy 
people, and to the children of thy people." 

In the Trinidad Island, Rev. Geo. Cowen begun to 
labor in 1843, and was heartily supported by natives and 
refugees. In 1860, Mr. Underbill, a devoted missionary, 
went there and to his astonishment found many excel- 
lent Negro Christians, the results of the labors of his 
predecessor. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 77 

Negro Baptists begun work in Hayti as early as 
1835, Mr. W. C. Monroe, of New York, being the pioneer, 
and in 1845, when missionary societies sent a few men 
to the island, they found many of his converts. The 
work met with much opposition when General Soulougul, 
the 4 Nero of the "West Indies, became president. The 
missionaries found it necessary to hold their meetings 
in sequestered places and to baptize at night, or away 
in some lonely spot where human foot seldom trod. One 
of these beautiful and picturesque scenes took place in 
1848, near Jacmel, when six converts, the early fruits 
of Haytian missions, were offered the Lord in baptism. 

It was one of those solitary nights in early spring 
when the moon shone in all her majestic brightness, 
bathing nature, kissing the tall pines and mighty 
mountains, adding holy lustre to the scene. It was in a 
tranquil pool which the clear stream in its windings 
around the mountain side had made, and just under the 
lofty precipice which towered high above them, that 
these six converts, after supplication and song, were 
buried in the liquid pool. Only that little band and God 
saw this inspiring scene, and through thoughts of perse- 
cution for the gospel's sake, through isolation and fear, 
they heard His voice breaking the calm of that memo- 
rable night, saying, ' ' Suffer it is to be so now. ' ' 

Rev. L. Ton Evans, of Barry, Wales, who labored as 
missionary in Hayti, in his letter to the Foreign Mis- 
sion Board, of June 29, 1900, says: 

"The national religion is Romanism. However, the 
inhabitants of the Republic are only nominal Roman 
Catholics and are more skeptical than anything. While 



78 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

they are incredulous and even unsympathetic to the 
teachings of religion as presented by the Romanist, who 
is a little removed if any from the Voodoo worshiper, it 
would be unfair to say they are opposed to true religion 
and the Christianity of Jesus. As an instance of this— 
Good Friday, 1893, a month after landing in the island, 
I urged one of the deacons, a colored brother, to let me 
preach on "Calvary." He formerly belonged to the 
Catholic Church, and I got him to interpret for me when 
preaching. As a result of this, some excitement was 
created among the priesthood, and the deacon and my- 
self were summoned to appear at the High Court on the 
following Wednesday. The priests did not turn up 
(the men were white, such as French, German and 
Irish). 

The native (colored) judge, a nominal Roman Catho- 
lic, said in French, "Continue preaching what you 
believe to be the Gospel, as you are in a free country, and, 
if you like, you will have the soldiers to guard you in the 
streets." We thanked him, but declined this, though 
we accepted the invitation to visit the prison, and used to 
do so every Sunday. This established the open air gospel 
work, which is still continued there to this day. 

The present state of the island is most deplorable — 
the densest darkness prevailing; Romanism in its worst 
forms; women devotees are also connected with Voodoo- 
ism at he same time, or what we call devil-worship. In 
this worship, which is the prevalent form throughout the 
island, fowls and beasts are offered and blood drunk. 
Sometimes even now human lives are offered up and 
cannibalism practiced. Their only hope politically and 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 79 

morally is the spread of the true gospel light. This 
must be done by some society outside. 

As now Cuba and Porto Kico are being evangelized by 
the United States of America, and as these two are re- 
publics and populated by Africans, and the work com- 
menced here ninety years ago by colored brethren from 
Kentucky, for whom it afforded shelter and retreat, 
surely it has with its nearly 2,000,000 people, the strong- 
est claims on your sympathy and help to-day. ' ' 



SPANISH AMERICA. 

It was in 1510, when Cortez and Pizarro took posses- 
sion of the region lying between the Southern boundary 
of the United States and Cape Horn in the name of 
Spain, and named it Spanish America. Though nearly 
four centuries have passed since Spanish rule begun, yet 
the masses of the people are in dense ignorance and 
superstition because of the degrading influences of 
Catholicism, and any attempt to introduce the Bible 
meets with bitter denunciation from the priesthood. 

South America has been termed the "Neglected 
Continent." But, when it is remembered that the 
Roman Catholic Church is established by law and that 
her constitution excludes all other creeds, the reason is 
understood. With a population of over 34,000,000, only 
about 250 missionaries and teachers are at work. There 
is but little work being done for the uplifting of the 
thousands of Negroes burdened with the yoke of Catholi- 
cism. 



80 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

In 1899 Kev. J. W. Anderson, a Negro Baptist 
minister, went from Connecticut to Georgetown, South 
America. Finding a great field in which to labor, he 
began work at that point. In March, 1900, he made ap- 
plication to the Foreign Mission Board of the National 
Baptist Convention to adopt him and his work. His 
report showed that he had organized the first colored 
Baptist church, and at that time had ninety members. 
He found as native helpers Brethren Smith and C. W. 
Sargeant. The board found itself unable to help in a 
substantial way in this new field, but wrote them pledg- 
ing their "moral support and what financial help they 
could from time to time give." Soon after this Rev. 
Anderson wrote, stating that he had erected a church 
edifice, asking the board to give the church a bell. The 
Sunday schools of Louisville, Ky., were called upon, and 
at a mass meeting in Zion Baptist Church, August, 1900, 
the money was raised and the bell paid for. The work has 
grown gradually. Three small churches have been organ- 
ized with a total membership of 400. Some misunder- 
standing arose in the churches and the Board was asked 
to send its corresponding secretary to the field. They 
realize that this is an excellent field right at their door, 
and hope to be able to have the work inspected, and, if 
conditions warrant, to prosecute mission work among 
that vast Negro population. 

ISLES OF THE PACIFIC. 

The islands of the Pacific include six great groups — 
the East India Islands, Polynesia, Melanesia, New Zea- 




MISS C. G. EWEX, 
Is reckoned among our most faithful 
friends in the work of Foreign Missions, 
She was attracted by the earnest efforts 
of Rev. Jno. F. A Johns, now deceased, 
and through her own means kept him 
in school for several years and suppor- 
ted him through the Board during his 
service on the field. From time to time 
we are cheered by her sisterly letters 
and contributions to the work. 





Rev. R. A. Jackson 
And Family, Cape Town, South Af- 
rica. A native cf Mississippi. Went to 
Africa in 1894. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 81 

land, Sandwich, or Hawaiian, and Micronesia. Much at- 
tention has been given to these islands because of the 
great population — 40,000,000 of cruel savages. Many 
missionaries l;ave been killed, some as soon as they land- 
ed. John Williams, who went to Society Island in 1816, 
under the London Missionary Society, is termed "the 
Apostle of the South Seas/ 9 He was a zealous, devoted 
worker and wears the martyr's crown, having been slain 
by a treacherous native in 1839, at Erromanga. 

We might mention the names of scores of men. who 
have gone to these islands, many of whom were killed, 
others dying of hardships. The names of John Patton, 
who labored at Tanna; of Samuel Marsden, of John C. 
Patterson and of Bishop Selwyn will live as heroes of 
missionary efforts in the islands of the Pacific. The 
venerable John G. Paton, the apostle of the New 
Hebrides, reported to the late Ecumenical Conference 
3,000 converts, with the Bible translated into twenty-two 
new languages. Dr. Paton has been on these islands 
for forty-two years and has indeed revolutionized things, 
yet it is said there are 60,000 cannibals in these islands. 

The St. Lazarus or Philippine Islands were dis- 
covered March 12, 1521. It is an archipelago, Southeast 
of Asia. The China Sea separates it on the Northwest 
from China. Toward the East lies the Pacific. No 
definite statement can be given of the Philippine 's land 
area. In 1882, Domann on his map estimated an area of 
114,356 square miles. Spain had the islands under con- 
trol for over three centuries yet much of the territory 
is unexplored. 

Luzon is the best known of the entire archipelago, 
and little is known of this island. 



82 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

It was not until 1898, when the United States ac- 
quired by conquest these slands from Spain, that 
American Protestant Christians turned their attention 
to missionary work there. The American Baptist Mis- 
sionary Union at once went to the rescue of the 8,000,000 
souls. The question was whom shall we send ? God in 
his wisdom had prepared a native, a Viscayan, who had 
been converted in the Baptist Mission under Rev. Erie 
Lund, in Barcelona, Spain, and this native offered him- 
self to go. The Union gave $150 for printing and trans- 
lating the New Testament and tracts into his tongue, and 
begun missionary operation in the Viscayan group. 
Under instructions Mr. Lund went to the Philippines to 
establish the work in company with the converted Philip- 
pino, Mr. Braulio Manikan. It was found that the 
Negro population was more ready to give up their 
heathen custom and priest worship than the whites and 
mixed bloods, hence work among them was begun with 
great zeal, and to-day bids fair to so establish itself that 
it will not be long before this group of islands will take 
on new life. With this new field American Baptists' 
work covers 2,000 miles, from Menuro, the Northern 
island of Japan, to the Viscayan group of the Philippine 
Islands. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 83 



AFRICA. 

A weary, waiting* throng — 
With eager, asking eyes, 
And prayers that end in sighs, 
"Oh, Lord, how long?" 

Africa is the largest of all the continents, except Asia, 
tut less is known of her than any other continent on the 
globe. 

To have an idea of the size, imagine the western edge 
laid at San Francisco it would cover land and sea to the 
coast of Ireland. 

Africa is 4,985 miles long and 4,615 miles wide. Its 
area, including the adjacent islands, is about 11,854,000 
square miles. 

The continent is divided into North, South, East, 
West and Central Africa. 

North Africa extends from the Red Sea to the At- 
lantic, and from the Mediterranean to the southern boun- 
dary of Abyssinia and the Desert of Sahara. Mohamme- 
danism is the principal religion, though the Roman 
Catholics hold the balance of power in Algeria. 

More is known of South Africa because of the efforts 
of Robert Moffat, Livingstone and Stanley, and more re- 
cently the attention of the world has been upon this 
section because of the English-Boer war. 
. East Africa includes the coast lying between Abys- 



84 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

sinia and the mouth of the . Zambezi and the inland 
regions of Central Africa around the great lakes. 

Her rivers are among the largest in the world and 
make their way over great cataracts and water falls, 
through great mountain ranges down to the sea. 

So much has been said about the climate that many 
who would venture to her shores have stayed away, fear- 
ing death from climatic conditions. While the coast 
region is malarious and the equatorial region feverish, 
the higher attitudes are exceedingly healthful. The soil 
is fertile and vegetation rank. 

The population has been variously estimated, but 
reliable authorities place the figures at 300,000,000 souls. 
Of course no one knows correctly, as we can hardly keep 
correct figures in civilized countries where the census 
is taken each decade. There are many languages and 
races, but nearly all of the people are either Mohamme- 
dans, pagans or savages. 

The land-grabbing in Africa began in 1866, and the 
work of partitioning Africa among the various Euro- 
pean nations has been industriously pursued ever since, 
with the result that only about 2,500,000 square miles 
remain unappropriated. France leads the list of "grab- 
land" holders. Great Britain's "sphere of influence/' 
the new name for national stealing, is almost equal to 
that of the United States in area. 

Many men of adventure and wealth-seeking inclina- 
tions have made themselves famous and opened up 
avenues of commerce by making exploring tours of the 
country and reporting its conditions. Before the days 
of Livingstone daring explorers made their way over 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 85 

mountains of obstacles in the jungles, but David Living- 
stone, the prince of explorers, Africa's greatest friend, 
made a triumphant entry and exploring tour, beginning 
with 1840 and running up to 1873. His desire was to 
open up Africa to missions and to abolish the accursed 
slave trade. William Stanley was also imbued with this 
idea and resolved to face difficulties and perils to open 
up Christian missions. Truly did Livingstone say "the 
end of geographical discovery is the beginning of mis- 
sionary enterprise. ' ' 

The light gained from these and other explorations 
kindled a spirit of pity and a feeling of duty in the heart 
of the Christian world. These men opened the road of 
intelligent interest and paved the way for the bearers 
of the Message of Salvation. 

The sons of Africa will not soon forget David Liv- 
ingstone. His kindness and sympathy in his dealings with 
the natives led them to call him their "great father." 
After thirty years of toil he fell a victim to fever and 
died. Then it was that the dark sons of Africa showed 
their devotion, for they embalmed him, buried his heart 
in the land he loved and bore his body by hand 1,500 
miles to the sea where they shipped it to England. When 
the illustrious funeral train of statesmen moved down 
the aisles of Westminster Abbey it was meet to accord 
these black heroes an honored place. The impulse given 
missions about this time is due to the heroic life of this 
great man. 

Other men have made their way to Africa's shore, 
but most of them for gold and land and honor. Africa, 
with her millions of blacks, is waiting and watching with 



86 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

eager eyes for some strong hand to stretch forth and de- 
liver her from the bonds of ignorance and superstition. 
No people so anxious for the knowledge of the Gospel 
are neglected and left to plod their way in darkness as 
are the millions in darkest Africa. So eager are Chris- 
tians to civilize and Christianize the nations of China, 
India and other lands, that by force they throw open the 
gates, meet death and torture that the Gospel of the Son 
of God might be preached. But the sword is preparing 
the way for a triumphant entry into Africa. God is pre- 
paring the hearts of the natives for the reception of His 
Gospel. He is awakening the Christian world to a sense 
of her duty to all who dwell in darkness. Though 
neglected and spurned for centuries, the God of nations 
will turn and overturn until the 300,000,000 souls bow- 
ing down to gods that have eyes and see not, ears and 
hear not the cries of the people, will turn and serve 
Him who desires the heathen for His inheritance. 




UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 87 



ANNUAL RETROSPECTIVE VIEWS OF THE 
NATIONAL CONVENTION FROM 1880 TO 1900. 

"Only the truth that in life I have spoken, 
Only the seed that on earth I have sown, 

These shall pass onward when I am forgotten — 
Fruits of the harvest and what I have done." 

It is stated, upon what may be deemed as good au- 
thority, that the Negroes of the United States are more 
intelligent, prosperous and better conditioned than a 
corresponding number anywhere else in the world. Look- 
ing upon the American Negro, then, as the leader of the 
Negro world, his attitude towards Africa becomes a 
questions of great moment. The Baptist element in the 
American Negroes predominate in point of numbers, and 
compares favorably in all other ways with the other de- 
nominations having adherents among Negroes. The 
relation that the Baptists sustain toward the whole Negro 
population of the United States, and the relation that the 
Negroes sustain toward the whole Negro world, make 
patent the fact that much depends upon the Negro Bap- 
tists as to the Christianizing and civilizing of the Negroes 
of Africa. For a number of years they have been carry- 
ing on mission work in Africa, and we now desire to 
glance back over these years to observe their aims, their 
struggles, their successes and disappointments, in the 
hope that it may serve as a stimulus for future en- 
deavor. 



88 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

In the quiet little town of Hampton, Va., situated on 
Hampton Roads, where the Merrimac and Monitor 
fought their little duel that revolutionized naval warfare 
in the whole world, the first official action was taken 
under the leadership of Rev. W. AY. Colley, returned 
missionary of the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission 
Board, looking to the gathering together of the entire 
Negro Baptist forces to battle against the powers of 
darkness that enveloped the Fatherland. "We do not 
mean to intimate that this was the beginning of Foreign 
Missions. Virginia had been already fully aroused and 
had been putting in some giant strokes for the cause of 
the Master, but she had now paused to call for reinforce- 
ments from the entire brotherhood. 

Rev. W 7 . W. Colley, of Virginia, was bidden by 
Virginia brethren to travel over the United States and 
stir up an interest in a Convention called to meet 
with the First Baptist Church of Montgomery, Ala. ; 
Rev. J. A. Foster, pastor, labored hard to bring about 
some kind of an organization. Pursuant to call, on No- 
vember 24, 1880, the convention assembled. Rev. W. W. 
Colley was made temporary chairman, and Rev. J. M. 
Armistead temporary secretary. 

There were present at this opening session 112 dele- 
gates,, seventy-four of whom were from Alabama, leaving 
thirty-eight to be distributed among the other States. 
Of these thirty-eight, Arkansas sent 3 ; North Carolina, 
4 ; Georgia, 3 ; Florida, 1 ; Louisiana, 2 ; Mississippi, 10 ; 
Texas, 4; Tennessee, 6; Virginia, 5. Such was the little 
handful that began our great national movement. 

On behalf of the Alabama delegation Rev. W. H. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 89 

McAlpine delivered an address of welcome to the conven- 
tion, extracts from which we now T give: 

"We hail with much joy and delight, the time of 
this meeting, because here we hope and expect to meet 
the representative men of the denomination from all 
over the United States, and become better acquainted 
with one another as one "household of faith;" to know 
more of each other's work, plans, views and desires, and 
by counsel with one another to better carry forward the 
work of our Lord and Master. 

" Again, because it seems to be the dawn of a brighter 
day upon the great question of giving Africa the Gospel 
of Christ. As those who are prime movers in the calling 
of this body have settled upon Alabama, her capital and 
the First Colored Baptist Church as the place of holding 
the first meeting, we feel it a duty upon our part to 
tender to you the heartfelt welcome of the 100,000 colored 
Baptists of Alabama. In behalf of 600 churches, thirty 
associations and General State Convention, we tender 
to you our hearty co-operation in all lawful and Scriptu- 
ral measures to carry forward the work for which you 
assembled." 

On the part of the church the address of welcome 
was delivered by the pastor, Rev. J. A. Foster. 

A constitution to govern the body was drawn up 
and adopted, the preamble reading as follows : 

"Whereas, It becomes necessary, and is our duty, 
to extend our Christian influence to advance the king- 
dom of Christ, and as African missions claim our most 
profound attention, and feeling that we are most sacred- 
ly called to the work in this field and elsewhere abroad. 



90 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

therefore, we, the representatives from the various 
churches, Sunday schools and societies of the Baptist 
denomination in the United States, do solemnly organize 
ourselves into a convention for the above named ob- 
jects." 

The convention made choice of the following breth- 
ren as officers for the ensuing year : 

Elder W. H. Mc Alpine, Alabama, President; Elder 
J. AA T . Patterson, Virginia, First Vice President; Elder 
F. R. Howell, North Carolina, Second Vice President; 
Elder R. N. Conutee, Tennessee, Third Vice President; 
Elder E. K. Love, Georgia, Fourth Vice President; 
Elder J. W. Muse, Mississippi, Fifth Vice President; 
Elder F. Hooks, Texas, Sixth Vice President; Elder G. 
Eobinson, Arkansas, Seventh Vice President; Elder 
P. H. Williams, Ohio, Eighth Vice President; Elder J. 
Marks, Louisiana, Ninth Vice President; Elder A. J. 
Poster, Alabama, Tenth Vice President; Elder James 
Page, Florida, Eleventh Vice President; Elder J. M. 
Armistead, Tennessee, Secretary ; Elder G. H. Dewelle, 
Georgia, Assistant Secretary ; Elder E. G. Corprew, Vir- 
ginia, Treasurer. 

Rev. W. W. Colley was elected Corresponding Secre- 
tary at a salary of $1,000 per year to travel in the in- 
terest of the convention, collecting funds and creating 
an interest in foreign missions. 

The Virginia Baptist State Convention was asked 
by vote to turn over to this newly organized convention 
the "Baptist Foreign Mission Convention of the United 
States, " the missionary which the Virginia Baptists had 
already sent to Africa, the Rev. Solomon Cosby. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 91 

The sum of $317.06 was raised in money at the 
convention and pledges were secured amounting to $161. 

Knoxvllle, Tenn., was chosen as the next place of 
meeting. 

These matters disposed of, the convention's work was 
done and it adjourned, thus bringing to a close the first 
session of the first National body organized among 
Negroes to do Foreign Mission work in heathen lands. 
These facts should be held sacred in the minds of Negro 
Baptists. 

On the 23d of November, 1881, the streets of Knox- 
ville, Tenn., were alive with delegates who had come 
from far and near to participate in the Second Annual 
Session of the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention. 

The delegates assembled in the convention with sad- 
ened hearts, for during the year death had shown his 
proverbial love for shining marks. The Rev. S. Cosby, 
who was laboring so faithfully in Africa in the cause 
of the Master, had been bidden by Him to come up 
higher. In the original meeting at Montgomery was Rev. 
E. G. Corprew, of Portmouth, Va. Rev. Mr. Corprew 
was a leader among Virginia Baptists, the pastor of a 
large church, a man of much force of character, who 
made himself felt. During the interval he, too, had 
died, vacating, at the request of God, the post of treas- 
urer of the convention. The death of these two breth- 
ren stirred the convention greatly, and no doubt did 
much to tighten the chords of love for the Master's 
service. 

We shall now give a few items of importance con- 
nected with this meeting. 



92 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

The Corresponding Secretary, Rev. W. W. Colley, 
made his report, which showed that he had raised during 
the year $506.78, while his expenses had been $225.06, 
leaving a balance on hand of $281.72. This expense ac- 
count does not, of course, include the salary of the cor- 
responding secretary, which was $1,000. It will be seen 
that the balance which the corresponding secretary had 
on hand lacked $718.93 of being sufficient to pay his own 
salary. The treasurer's report shows that $205.13 had 
been received by him during the year. 

The finance committee reported that $683.47 had been 
raised at the session. 

In the different State treasuries the following 
amounts were reported to be on hand for foreign mission 
purposes : 

Virginia, $800; North Carolina, $53; Mississippi, 
$25: Alabama, $25; Tennessee, $20; Texas, $100; total, 
$1,023. 

The constitution of the convention underwent re- 
vision at this session. 

Executive committees, composed of seven each, were 
designated for each State to foster the foreign mission 
spirit in their respective States. 

It was at this meeting that provisions were made to 
have the convention chartered. 

Rev. W. H. McAlpine was elected president again, 
and the following are some of the names that appear as 
vice presidents for this year: J. H. Wilhite, E. C. Morris 
and R. H. Boyd. 

The Foreign Mission Board was constituted as fol- 
lows: President, A. Binga, Jr., Manchester, Va. ; Secre- 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 93 

tary, Prof. J. E. Jones, Richmond, Va. ; Wm. Troy, Rich- 
mond, Va. ; C. Johnson, Raleigh, N. C. ; F. Brown, Green- 
ville, S. C. ; W. H. Tilman, .Si\, Atlanta, Ga. ; R. D. Dun- 
bar, Jacksonville, Fla. ; J. Q. A. Wilhite, Eufanla, Ala.; 
R. Ramsey, Meridian, Miss. ; J. H. Stewart, Murf rees- 
boro, Tenn. ; G. W. Walker, New Orleans, La.; R. H. 
Boyd, Palestine, Texas ; J. A. Taylor, Richmond, Va. ; 
H. Williams, Jr., Petersburg, Va. ; R. Spiller, Norfolk, 
Va. ; J. W. Patterson, Danville, Va. ; E. C. Morris, 
Helena, Ark. ; W. W. Colley, Richmond, Va. ; John Jones, 
Liberty, Va. : J. E. Farrar, Richmond, Va. ; James H. 
Holmes, Richmond, Va. ; J. B. Smith, Concord Depot, 
Va. ; L. A. Black, Petersburg, Va. ; J. H. Dickerson, 
Petersburg, Va. 

Arrangements were entered into with North Carolina 
whereby Rev. J. 0. Hayes, who was already in Africa, 
might work under the auspices of the convention, with 
North Carolina contributing $400 annually toward his 
support. 

Rev. R. Spiller, of Virginia, became the treasurer of 
the convention, succeeding the Rev. E. G. Corprew, de- 
ceased. 

The Third Convention was held with the Cotton 
Avenue Church, Macon, Ga., beginning June 28, 1882. 
Rev. E. K. Love delivered the welcome address, in the 
course of which he said : "Every pulsation of our hearts 
beat for the teeming millions in Africa, groping in 
ignorance dark as the night. Only permit us to join you 
in the good work, that we may share in the reaping by- 
and-by. If you are defeated we will suffer with you. 
If the ship in which you have embarked sinks, we pledge 



94 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

you our word that we will go under with you, and shall 
share your fate. Our interest is common, and our destiny 
shall be the same. We welcome you because you are our 
brethren. We welcome you because you are the servants 
of the most high God, and are engaged in His cause. We 
feel that the redemption of suffering Africa depends 
largely upon the colored people of this country." 

Rev. J. Q. A. Wilhite, of Alabama, was made Presi- 
dent ; Rev. W. W. Colley, Corresponding Secretary ; Rev. 
W. R. Pettiford and Rev. J. M. Armistead, Secretaries; 
Rev. Henry Williams, Jr., Statistician, and Rev. R. 
Spiller, Treasurer. The report of the Corresponding 
Secretary showed that $365.25 had been collected during 
the year, and at this session $118.18 was raised for the 
work. 

The session was a harmonious one, and all the dele- 
gates were inspired with new zeal to do more than they 
had ever done for missions. 

The Convention now made its way toward Virginia 
to meet among the men primarily responsible for its 
birth and its greatest financial support. It assembled 
in its fourth annual session with the First Baptist 
Church of Manchester, Va., the Rev. A. Binga, Jr., pas- 
tor. The time of meeting was September 19, 1883, the 
date being changed again. At this meeting the Rev. 
J. A. Foster was called to the president's chair to suc- 
ceed the Rev. J. Q. A. AVilhite. 

The Corresponding Secretary, Rev. W. W. Colley, re- 
ported to the convention his work for the year. He had 
collected a total of $950.53, while his expenses had been 
$389.31, leaving a balance of $561.42, which sum was 
$438.38 short of being sufficient to pay his salary. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 95 

At this Manchester session $915.57 was raised, while 
$262.68 had come to the treasurer in letters, etc., during 
the year. 

At this time the Rev. J. 0. Hayes was the only mis- 
sionary of the convention in Africa, and the Board was 
having some misunderstanding with him. At this con- 
vention Rev. W. W. Colley and wife and Rev. J. H. 
Presley and wife were elected missionaries to Africa, 
and Rev. J. J. Coles and Rev. H. McKinney designated 
as students to be sent to Liberia College preparatory to 
their entering actively in the missionary service. 

After the adjournment of the convention Rev. C. H. 
Payne declined the position of corresponding secretary, 
to which he had been elected, whereupon the board 
elected Prof. J. E. Jones, of the Richmond Theological 
Seminary, as corresponding secretary, and the Rev. Hol- 
land Powell as traveling agent. 

In 1884 the Convention assembled in Meridian, Miss., 
in the First Baptist Church of that place, Rev. R. 
Ramsey, pastor. Here the Rev. Wm. A. Brinkly, of 
Memphis, was elected President of the Convention. Rev. 
J. M. Armistead, who had from the very beginning until 
this time been secretary, retired from that office, and 
Rev. H. H. Mitchell, of Virginia, succeeded him. 

The office of Corresponding Secretary and Traveling 
Agent of the Convention had never up to this time been 
a success, so Rev. Dr. Binga, of Manchester, offered a 
resolution which was adopted, providing that in the 
future no money should be drawn from the treasury to 
supply a deficiency caused by the failure of agents to 
raise their salaries. 



96 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

Attention was called to statements from the pen of 
Rev. J. 0. Hayes appearing in the National Baptist of 
September 11, 1884, placing the convention in an un- 
favorable light, and the Executive Board was instructed 
to make suitable reply thereto. 

The amount of money raised at this session of the 
convention was $455.82; the receipts during the year 
were $4,310.65. 

After the adjournment of the convention on Decem- 
ber 1, Rev. Messrs. W. W. Colley, J. H. Presley and 
their wives, H. McKinney and J. J. Coles set sail for 
Africa, the four former to do active missionary work, 
the two latter as students in the Liberia College, with 
a view to become missionaries. 

The Convention next assembled September 23, 1885, 
with the Common Street Baptist Church, of New 
Orleans, La., Rev. A. S. Jackson, pastor. 

The Rev. J. A. Foster was again summoned to assume 
the presidency of the convention. Rev. R. Spiller, of 
Virginia, w T ho had been treasurer of the convention since 
the death of Rev. Mr. Corprew, now dropped out and 
was succeeded by the Rev. R. Well, of Richmond, Va. 

Rev. J. H. Presley was present at the convention, hav- 
ing returned to his country in the July previous on ac- 
count of the state of his health. 

Reports from the foreign fields were very encourag- 
ing, twenty conversions having been reported as the re- 
sult of a revival that originated from a funeral dis- 
course over a native. 

The receipts at this session of the convention were 
$575.80; during the year $2,288.52. Of this $2,288.52 



# 



CO 



nd 



o 
pa 


w 


cr 





re 


rr 


3 


KD 




B 


=* 


rt 


a 


B 


't 


Cfl 


o 


C-T 







£ 


B 




03 


- 


rt- 


cr> 


~ 





ru 






rt 


■-1 








*■** 




pa 


> 


3 


-*i 




-1 






~ 


ra 


a> 


P 


7) 


* 


pa 


pa 


B 


rt 


Di 






m 


rt 


n 


3 






„ 


rt 






§ 








^ 




ST* 


rt 


O 



B «. 






pa 

B 




UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 97 

Virginia contributed $1,650, and we hear her first note 
of complaint in the report of the board, which says/ 4 Vir- 
ginia can not carry the whole burden of this mission 
work in Africa. " 

The Convention held its next session in Tabernacle 
Baptist Church, Rev. R. N. Countee, pastor, Memphis, 
Tenn., beginning September 22, 1886, where the Rev. 
A. S. Jackson was elected to the presidency of the con- 
vention. 

Several matters of great importance arose at the 
Memphis meeting. The question of consolidation with 
the Baptist Convention of the Western States and terri- 
tories first arose here, and steps were taken having con- 
solidation in view. 

The plan of having the various States grouped in 
districts was now in partial operation, Maryland, Vir- 
ginia and the District of Columbia comprising the First 
District. This one district raised $3,261.62, and the plan 
was urged for use in the other States. 

The convention during the year raised $4,473.30, and 
at this session $575.80. 

The American Baptist Missionary Union made over- 
tures for co-operation, which were declined upon the 
general ground that they lacked definiteness. 

The American National Baptist Convention, which 
had now been organized with Dr. Wm. J. Simmons, 
D. D., as president, sent five delegates to the convention. 
It was in Memphis that Dr. Simmons began to partici- 
pate conspicously in the affairs of the convention. 

The mission work in Africa was now under a cloud, 
one of the missionaries beino- accused of the killing of a 



98 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

native. This accusation the missionary denied and Avas 
duly exonerated by official action in Africa. Rev. J. J. 
Coles, who had entered actively in foreign mission work 
after leaving the College of Liberia, returned from Africa 
and was present at the convention. Eev. W. W. Colley 
also came to this country, thus leaving Rev. H. McKin- 
ney as the only member of that group remaining on the 
field. 

The receipts at Memphis amounted to $1,161.32 ; dur- 
ing the year, $4,473.30. 

At this meeting Rev. E. B. Topp and wife and Rev. 
J. J. Diggs offered themselves as missionaries to Africa, 
were accepted and set sail that fall with Rev. J. J. Coles, 
who had now married and was returning with his wife 
to his post of duty. 

In 1887 the Convention assembled in the First Bap- 
tist Church, Little Rock, Ark., Rev. J. P. Robinson, 
pastor. 

Rev. A. S. Jackson was re-elected to preside over the 
body. 

During the year Rev. E. B. Topp and wife had re- 
turned from the foreign field spending only a few 
months there. On the 15th of April of that year Rev. 
H. McKinney passed from labor to reward at his post 
of duty, and due mention was made of this fact to 
the convention. The amount of money raised during 
the conventional year was $2,762.20. The district plan 
was again brought forward and the brethren urged to 
take hold thereof. The Convention closed its Eighth 
Annual Session with an impressive farewell service. The 
next session was held on Wednesday before fourth 
Lord's Day in September, 1888, Nashville, Tenn. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 99 

N. B. — We could secure no minute of this session. 

The tenth annual session of the Convention was held 
with the second Baptist Church of Indianapolis, Ind., 
Rev. J. W. Carr, pastor. Rev. E. K. Love, of Georgia, 
was elected president of the convention. 

During the year success had not attended the cause 
of the convention, and the Executive Board felt called 
upon to cry out against discouragement, feeling that so 
many set-backs might have a tendency* in that direction. 
They said, in concluding their report : 

"We can not, we must not, fail in this work; Africa 
must be redeemed/' 

The total receipts for the year were $5,960.57. 

At this session it was voted to discontinue the District 
plan, it having proved a failure in operation. 

In 1890 the Convention met with Green Street 
Church, Rev. D. A. Gaddie, D. D., pastor, in Louisville, 
Ky., Rev. E. K. Love, of Georgia, still being president. 
At the Louisville sitting of the convention the sum of 
$941.63 was raised. 

The New Hope Baptist Church, Rev. E. W. Isaac, 
Pastor, Dallas, Tex., next entertained the convention. 
Rev. A. R. Griggs, of Texas, was elected as president. 
During the interval of the convention Rev. D. N. Vassar, 
of Virginia, had been appointed as a special commissioner 
to go to Africa to examine into rumors that were afloat 
calculated to work injury to the cause. The report of 
this commissioner was laid before the body at Dallas, and 
revealed no cure for the dying work. Those who took 
time to reflect, could see on every hand the need of a 
spiritual over-shadowing of this great body of men. 
^ T ork for God can not be done with Him left out. 

L.ofC. 



100 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

The thirteenth annual session of the convention was 
held in Savannah, Ga., in the First Baptist Church, Rev. 
E. K. Love, Pastor. The convention had received dur- 
ing the year the sum of $2,985.03. It received at this 
session $878.95. 

For some years the treasurer of the convention had 
been Deacon Farrar, of Richmond. During the year he 
had died, and Prof. D. N. Vassar was elected treasurer of 
the convention. 

For some time there had been no Traveling Agent on 
the field, and the Convention had called for the appoint- 
ment of one very insistently. The Board made choice of 
the Rev. L. M. Luke for the position, and he began his 
labors in the conventional year following the session at 
Dallas. Rev. A. R. Griggs, of Texas, was yet president 
of the convention. 

Rev. J. J. Coles and wife were zealously at work in 
Africa and sent a report to the convention, which spoke 
well for their zeal and energy in the Master's cause. 
During the year a war had broken out in Africa and Rev. 
Mr. and Mrs. Coles had to flee to Cape Mound for safety. 

The fourteenth annual session was held with the Ver- 
mont Avenue Baptist Church, Washington, D. C, Rev. 
Geo. W. Lee, pastor, September, 1893. 

The return of Bro. and Sister J. J. Coles to this 
country, leaving the station where they had so zealously 
toiled vacant, practically put a stop to the mission work 
of the Convention. The Board was not discouraged at 
all, but came to the Convention, urging the opening up 
of a new mission station. It also suggested again, in a 
modiied form, the district system. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 101 

The amount gathered in during the year was 
$4,064.63. 

The fifteenth annual session of the convention was 
held in the First Baptist Church, of Montgomery, Ala., 
the Rev. A. J. Stokes, Pastor. It was in this church 
that the Convention was organized just fifteen years 
previous. The Rev. Mr. Foster, who was pastor at the 
founding of the convention, had now passed to his 
reward. 

At this session of the convention the Rev. E. C. 
Morris, D. D., was elected to preside. 

During the year, Rev. J. J. Coles, wiio had been 
elected Corresponding Secretary, died; and his wife, 
Mrs. Lucy A. Coles, was elected to the position. 

At Montgomery's session, consideration was given to 
the thought of uniting the National Baptist Convention, 
the Educational Convention and the Foreign Mission 
Convention into one organization. 

The Rev. J. 0. Hayes was now laboring for the Con- 
vention in Africa, being its only missionary at this time. 

During the year. Rev. R. H. Jackson sailed for South 
Africa to work as a volunteer missionary, though not 
employed by the convention at the time of his sailing. 
The money raised at the Montgomery meeting was 
$346.72. 

An agreement entered into between the Convention 
and the brethren of New England, and of the "Western 
States and Territories, looking to the establishment of a 
mission station on the Congo, failed, because the money 
that the Convention agreed to raise was not forthcoming. 

The Convention met in its Sixteenth Annual Session 



102 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

in the Friendship Baptist Church, Atlanta, Ga., Rev. 
E. R. Carter, D. D., pastor. 

The much-talked-of union between the three conven- 
tions, the Foreign Mission, Educational and National, 
was here duly effected, and they all combined under the 
name of the National Baptist Convention of the United 
States of America. Rev. E. C. Morris, D. D., was 
elected president of the consolidated convention. This 
consolidation, in a large measure, was due to the un- 
tiring efforts of Rev. Mr. McAlpine, of Alabama. Time 
has proved the wisdom of the consolidation. The Foreign 
Mission Board headquarters were removed from Rich- 
mond, Va., to Louisville, Ky., and the entire personnel 
of the Board changed. This action gave offense to some 
of the Virginia brethren and their affiliation with the 
convention ceased from this point. 

On December 31, 1895, following the session at At- 
lanta, the Rev. L. M. Luke, D. D., passed away leaving 
the position of Corresponding Secretary of the Foreign 
Mission Board vacant. The board had already been en- 
tirely changed, and now the death of Mr. Luke destroyed 
the last link between the former and the latter manage- 
ment, and we may well put a period here, as marking the 
end of an epoch of our foreign mission work. 

The banner of the Cross as waved aloft over Baptist 
warriors must never be allowed to abide in the dust. 
"When one standard bearer falls, another must be chosen 
to grasp the banner staff to keep the flag floating over 
them. 

Thus, when Rev. L. M. Luke, D. D., had been laid 
away in the home that awaits us all— the grave — the 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 103 

Foreign Mission Board began to cast about for his suc- 
cessor. Among those found to be available was the author, 
then pastor of the Union Baptist Church of Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 

In order to judge properly of the work that has 
been done, due account must be taken of the surrounding 
conditions. 

When we assumed charge of the work we found a 
depleted treasury, the missionaries off of the field, the 
whole work under a cloud, the confidence of the denomi- 
nation in the Foreign Mission work sadly shaken. The 
first great task that confronted us was to arouse the lag- 
ging spirits and restore the confidence that was now at 
so low an ebb. 

CONCLUSION. 

Today the foreign mission work of the denomination 
is in a more healthy condition than at any other time 
in its history. Missionaries are being sent to the 
field, interest is being aroused at home and the time 
seems ripe for the outbreak of a true, zealous missionary 
spirit that will produce an army of workers, an army of 
supporters, an army of givers that will aid materially in 
driving out the more than midnight darkness and usher- 
ing in the day when the Gospel of God's dear Son is 
he^rd and heeded in all that land. 

SPECIAL MENTION. 

We are pained to note in our review of the minutes 
of 1885 that no mention was made by the Convention 



104 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

of the death of Mrs. Hattie H. Presley, wife of Rev. 
J. H. Presley, who died on the field August 15, 1884. 
A life given to Africa for the denomination, yet her fall 
was unnoticed. Away in darkest Africa, forgotten so 
soon. But the God who notices even the sparrow's fall 
wall enroll her name among the heroines in the redemp- 
tion of Africa. 




UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 105 



FACTS ON THE CRISIS. 

Louisville, Ky., February 18, 1896. 
Rev. L. G. Jordan, Phila. , Venn. 

Dear Brother:— At a meeting of the Foreign Mis- 
sion Board held in this city on the 13th inst. you were 
elected by unanimous vote of the Board as Correspond- 
ing Secretary. It is hoped you may see your way to enter 
upon this work. Hoping a speedy reply, we are yours 
in the love of the Gospel, 

John H. Frank, Chairman. 
S. E. Smith, D. D., Bee, Sec'y. 

Following this, came a circular addressed "To the 
Baptist of America," from which the following is an 
extract: "The Rev. L. G. Jordan, of Pennsylvania, was 
unanimously chosen by our Board, February 13, Cor- 
responding Secretary and Field Agent, to fill the vacancy 
occasioned by the death of the late Rev. L. M. Luke. 
Rev. Jordan goes forward upon this exalted and sacred 
calling highly commended by our leaders for his ability, 
as minister of the gospel, organizer, financier, orator 
and reformer. Your Board asks for him a hearty recep- 
tion and the united aid of the denomination, that a new 
epoch be marked in modern missions.' ' When the above 
letter was received we were in the height of our pastorial 
work of the Union Baptist Church, where we had served 



106 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

for five years. The membership was eleven hundred, 
seven hundred of which had joined under our adminis- 
tration. No nobler, more loyal and loving people ever 
lived than they. They had stood by us in our bereave- 
ment, administered to our wants, loved us fondly as pas- 
tor, and to pull away from them was a task to which we 
felt unequal. When they knew of the appointment and 
besought us in tears to remain, we resolved to do so. 
But the paths trod in 1885, while in Africa, the long 
walks with Rev. R. B. Richardson, while in Liberia, the 
wanderings in the banana patch to find the new T grave 
of Mrs. Hattie H. Presley, the last sermon preached for 
Brother Henson McKinney's people, at Cape Mound, 
and the promise made him, and the solemn promise made 
Almighty God on board ship, going and coming, concern- 
ing our duty undone to that neglected land, came before, 
us like a panorama, and above the pleadings of friends 
and the pleasure of a good field, we heard the Master 
saying, "Go, and I will go with thee," and we obeyed 
the command. Finding it impossible to move at once we 
made temporary headquarters of the board at Philadel- 
phia until November. Our first work, upon taking 
charge was to take an inventory of the belonging of the 
board, which were as follows : one small desk, 1 stove, 5 
chairs. These constituted the effects used by the board 
under our predecessors. The records of the former 
board and the money are still in Richmond, Va. It will 
be remembered that the .new board was elected September 
1895, five months before our election. The death of 
Rev. L. M. Luke, D. D., who had served as corresponding 
secretary only three months, occurred on the 31st of 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 107 

December. He celebrated the new year with the Master. 
His loss was keenly felt throughout the denomination. 
He had gone up and down this country as field agent, 
pleading for Africa, desiring only the crumbs, for often 
would he say, ' ' Give me the crumbs for Africa, ' ' and his 
burning message had touched many hearts. We often 
think of the closing words of Rev. M. Vann, his personal 
friend and a giant among us, at the memorial services 
in St. Louis. Turning to those seated on the platform, 
he said, looking at me, "My brother, he may have made 
mistakes, but the road is easier for you because he went 
this way before you. ' ' 

To fully realize the condition of the work we cite 
these words from an appeal sent out by the new board 
in February, 1896: "Brethren, to date we have received 
but $25.00 from the churches. At this rate our mission- 
ary will have to be recalled and the field abandoned. We 
again appeal to you for money; send it, however large 
or small the sums ; we can not succeed without your as- 
sistance. Should we fail, must your board bear the 
ignominy of such misfortune? Can a cause rebuke its 
own effect? Systematic and regular giving will mark 
a new epoch in our work, etc." With these conditions 
before us and without any experience in the work, our 
first idea was to go to Him who knoweth all things and is 
able to do for us far a.bove what we are able to ask, and 
there get the needed strength for the task before us. 
We planned a rally, issued ten thousand copies of the 
first edition of the Afro-American Mission Herald, the 
little monthly paper the board had decided to send out 
in interest of missions, containing the program for same, 



108 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

and felt sure that this would act as a stimulus to the 
work. The mailing of these papers was indeed expensive, 
as we could not secure newspaper rates. We then tried 
to rally the denominational press in interest of the work, 
which effort met with fair success. We expected at least 
three thousand dollars from this rally, but only $400 
was received. Then it was we realized that first 
the pastors had to be reached and interested in the work, 
and to this end we labored, knowing that if we could get 
the brethren to unite into one great Baptist family we 
would accomplish much. Accordingly we secured the 
co-operation of Chairman John H. Frank and Kev. M. 
Vann, and together we visited the Western States and 
Territorial Convention that year, in session at Chicago, 
and laid our plan before them and urged them to send 
a large delegation to St. Louis to our National Con- 
vention. In person we met the New England Con- 
vention, in session at Hartford, Conn., and laid the 
claims of Africa upon their hearts and the awful sin of 
neglect, until strong men wept together. They gave us 
$60 and their pledge that they would unite with the 
National Convention. 

Having clone all that we could to get the denomi- 
nation together in this work of Foreign Missions, and 
having been pledged the loyal support of these agencies, 
we turned our attention to the field. Eev. and Sister J. J. 
Coles were our last missionaries, for it will be remembered 
that Brother J. 0. Hayes was out of touch with the board 
at Richmond and Brother Jackson had not been adopted. 
Since we were to go before the churches it was neces- 
sary to present to them something tangible; we, there- 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 109 

fore, went over the letters, tried to understand the 
troubles and get matters in shape that we might get these 
brethren to take up work under the new board. The 
matter of the final appointment was to come before the 
meeting in St. Louis. In the meantime, the convention, 
through Dr. Morris, the president, received a very touch- 
ing letter from Eev. R. A. Jackson urging the need of a 
chapel at Capetown, South Africa. From time imme- 
morial the Negro of this country had been taught that all 
Africa was one great wilderness with a desert, where 
man ate man. So prevalent was this idea that the igno- 
rant as well as the educated Negro accepted it as a fact. 
Only a small number of us were aware of the fact that 
Capetown was a great city with electric lights, railroads 
running into it, street cars and all that goes to make a 
great city that had been on the increase for over 113 
years. We concluded that a $700 chapel in any part of 
Africa would be a fine building. The following appeal 
for the work at Capetown was sent out at once to every 
pastor whose name appeared in the Baptist year book : 

Philadelphia, Pa., May 2, 1896. 
Eev. and Dear Brother:— Your State annual meet- 
ing will soon be upon you, and your people will be asked 
to send up money for various purposes; will you have 
them remember Africa? The Negro Baptists of America 
are pledged to the dark land. Rev. R. A. Jackson, of 
Capetown, and Rev. J. 0. Hayes in Liberia, with their 
families, are doing a good work -and should be sustained. 
We read: "For on behalf of the name they went forth, 
taking nothing from the Gentiles. We therefore ought 
to sustain such persons that ice may become fellow- 



110 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

workers for the truth/ 9 — III John 7, 8. Enclosed please 
find a coin mailer for yourself. As your general secre- 
tary I am trying to raise money from Baptist preachers, 
to build our first chapel at Capetown, South Africa. 
Will you join us in this noble effort? Brother Jackson 
writes, "We need a chapel so much. A Jew gave us 
forty cart loads of building stone and a Mohammedan 
twenty loads." Shall we do less than the wandering 
Jew w^ho does not recognize our Lord, and the Mohamme- 
dan who depends upon his strength more than upon 
God? What joy it would give the great Baptist family 
to know that the pastors had succeeded in building our 
first chapel in South Africa. Not a cent of the 
Preachers 9 Fund ivill be spent in any other ivay. I hope 
to meet you at your State meeting and talk over matters. 
Please return coin mailer in the enclosed envelope at 
once. Will mail you a number for the members of your 
church, if you desire to help us. Yours in His name 

L. G. Jordan. 
Corresponding Secretary Foreign Mission Board. 
The result hardly paid for the outlay. This served 
to awaken us to the task before us. Indeed, step after 
step revealed the denomination's true condition as re- 
gards missions. Inquiry and research developed the fact 
that only a small per cent, of white Christians were in- 
formed on the subject of missions, and what could be 
expected of the one and a half million Negro Baptists 
who had not had an opportunity to know anything of 
the work. They had been discouraged and misled and in 
many cases money given by them had been withheld and 
misappropriated. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. Ill 

Later, we learned, to our sorrow, that our Foreign 
Mission Board was looked upon as a begging machine, 
that might be helped or not. The work of giving the 
Gospel to the lost was not regarded as a duty laid upon 
Christians by their Lord and Master — a duty not to be 
shaken off. At our St. Louis meeting Rev. J. 0. Hayes 
and wife, of Brewerville, W. C. Africa, Rev. R. A. Jack- 
son and wife, of Capetown, South Africa, Rev. G. F. A. 
Johns and wife, of Baltimore, Md., were elected as 
missionaries. The latter sailed January 26, 1897. The 
session of 1896 was regarded as an improvement over 
many past sessions. For once Negro Baptists answered 
the summons to duty, and "Like a mighty army moved 
the church of God." Nearly every part of the country 
w 7 as represented. During the year $700 had been col- 
lected on the field, and $1 ,800 was laid on the table at the 
session. 

The mass meeting at Convention Hall, on Sunday, 
September 18, was regarded as one of the most inspiring 
meetings ever held among us. During the meeting a 
telegram was received notifying us of the arrival of Mr. 
John Tule, w T ho was baptized by Rev. R. A. Jackson and 
sent on to us. This was the first African baptized by 
one of our workers we had ever seen. Money was sent 
on to bring him on to St. Louis, but he failed to reach 
there in time for the meeting. The delegates went 
home from this meeting cheerfully to meet in Boston, 
September, 1897. 

Among the things done at St. Louis was the ordering 
of a series of supplies for the Sunday schools to be out 
by January 1, 1897. The board having this in hand, 



112 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

elected Rev. R. H. Boyd, D. D., as secretary and instruct- 
ed him to see that the order was carried out. The Sun- 
day school supplies did appear as ordered. 

As Foreign Mission Secretary, we made an* effort to 
get to most of the State meetings in the interest of our 
work. As the publishing project was yet in its infancy, 
and a creature of the National Convention, and we an 
official of the same, the Secretary of the Publishing 
Board sent to our care packages of his publications to be 
given to the brethren, which we did. Desirous of seeing 
this effort made a success, we took interest in calling the 
attention of the leaders in these meetings to the fact that 
they ought to stand by the convention in this new ven- 
ture. Many of those who had been our best friends 
criticised us for this and expressed their ideas in the fol- 
lowing extract from an editorial in the February number 
of the Christian Banner: "The Banner would like to 
know, has Rev. L. G. Jordan been employed to act as 
agent for the National Baptist Board, or is he working 
and talking for them for the love he has for the com- 
bination?"" We realized that in all great crises men 
have had to take a stand and let the world know on 
which side they were, and believing as we do in the pos- 
sibilities of the race, representing a department of the 
convention, we came out boldly for the publishing pro- 
ject. Then it was that some of the leaders turned the 
fight on us and our Foreign Mission work. A corre- 
spondence was begun with our missionaries which occa- 
sioned a great unrest among several of the men on the 
field. 

Three of them begun complaining and soon resigned. 



n 

■»TJ 



p 




UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 113 

One of them turned upon us with a bitter fight, but 
afterwards discovered that he had been deceived and 
returned to work under our board, where he is now serv- 
ing with credit. 

That the facts, as they are, may be known and our 
position clearly seen, we give these extracts from the 
Mission Herald of April, 1898, setting forth the reason 
why we favored a publishing house : ' ' Our Publication 
Board gives young men and women of the race situations 
that will give them an idea about bookmaking and busi- 
ness in general, which they could not get in any other 
way. We should not be unmanly in our effort to make 
money or win the friendship of others. 'We live in 
deeds and in words.' 

' ' For twenty-one years we have pastored and suffered 
with our people in Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee and 
Pennsylvania. We always had time to sell a little talent 
for use, but our convictions are individual property, not 
for sale nor rent. We respect the parent society — Amer- 
ican Baptist Publication. Yet we feel it our duty to be 
loyal ; since our great National Convention said we are to 
have Sunday school supplies we are with them. AVe 
have said, and say now, every church ought to give the 
Publishing Committee a fair show. 

"The time to have made all this ado was at St. Louis, 
when the vote was taken to have Sunday school supplies k 
for January 1, 1897. Our Banner man must have thought 
we would go on lying about publications as we have done 
for five years. No, we are not a paid agent, but our 
influence shall go to help make publications of our own. 
Our children from the kindergarten to the college see in 



114 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

all the books they use, pictures of cats, clogs, pigs, snakes, 
and sometimes the devil, but no pictures of Negroes un- 
less it is to advertise some foolishness ; nor do they read 
stories of the Negroes' greatness in the books by white 
men They read about 'Black Beauty,' the horse; 
'Beautiful Joe/ the dog. Knowing that the sense of 
sight is the most important in childhood, the pictures to 
be seen by our children on the 'Negro backs' will be a 
source of inspiration to every young Negro who sees 
them. ' ' 

This was a sign for the most bitter attack, and espe- 
cially by those who were in any way employed by the 
American Baptist Publication Society. The matter was 
fought out in every State meeting, and a special killing 
of the project was planned for the Boston meeting. It 
was believed that Boston was so far North that there 
would not be many of the brethren present. The officials 
of the American Baptist Publication Society and the 
Home Mission Society were there, and those from Vir- 
ginia and North Carolina, who were not at the last two 
annual meetings, were on hand in large numbers. The 
reports of the boards were read, and in spite of the vari- 
ous methods employed to confuse and stampede the con- 
vention, Negro Baptists saw their way to respect their 
white friends, but in the meantime sustain their own pro- 
jects. The Home Mission Board with its publishing plant 
was endorsed. It will be remembered that at the St. Louis 
meeting the Foreign Mission Board was empowered to 
district the country that the churches might be better 
reached. In their report at Boston they showed what 
had been done, but because of the success of the publish- 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 115 

ing plant there were those among us who tried to split 
the convention. First one and then another device was 
resorted to. At last they decided that it would be well 
to have a District Convention. The National Convention 
understood their purpose and held, that the American 
Baptist Publication Society, The American Baptist Home 
Mission Society, The American Baptist Missionary Union 
and the Southern Baptist Convention, with all of their 
wealth and intelligence had, for sake of convenience, 
districts and district secretaries, but had no district 
conventions. At this meeting Brother John Tule, a 
native, Brother Joseph I. Buchanan and family, of 
Maryland, then in Africa, and Miss Mamie Branton, of 
Canada, then of North Carolina, were elected mission- 
aries. The Annual Missionary Mass Meeting was held 
in Tremont Temple. The memorial services for Rev. M. 
Yann, of Tennessee, and Rev. G. F. A. Johns were held 
in connection with the mass meeting. It afterward de- 
veloped that Mrs. Johns died in South Africa on that 
day and about the hour we were in service. The dele- 
gates, with a few exceptions, returned home from this 
meeting delighted with the results and the outlook. 

All great bodies must undergo their siftings. No 
conventional year in our racial and denominational life 
has been so signal with fratricide as the years of 189 7 
and 1898. Brethren who were employed by other socie- 
ties set to work to organize another convention, with a 
hope of destroying the publishing project. A knife was 
laid at the throat of our denominational life. Those 
who opposed the Negro publishing plant called a meet- 
ing at Washington, D. C, December, 1897. An organiza- 



116 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

tion was formed, but men who had been so long associated 
with their brethren who were with the National Conven- 
tion were not ready nor willing to be split off so abruptly. 
The real motive of the men who represented the new 
convention— The rending of our National Convention — 
were kept hidden. To mislead those who were loyal and 
have them believe that nothing was wrong, the following 
resolution was adopted: 

< ' The First District Convention is in no way antago- 
nistic to the National Convention. ' ' But the papers op- 
posed to our work were induced to take up the cause of 
all who were opposed to the publishing project. Bitter 
were the sayings, and fierce the fight made by these men 
in their papers. The ex-treasurer of the Foreign Mission 
Board in Kentucky was induced to make a distorted re- 
report, which was used against the work. The Baptist 
Truth, Savannah, Ga., published by Rev. E. K. Love, 
D. D., in an issue of August, 1898, took up our cause and 
made the following manly reply to the slanders and false 
accusations of the seceders : 

' 'We have never read a more incoherent thing in the 
shape of an article or editorial than the Evangelist con- 
tained concerning our board. The Evangelist says : ' ' We 
think it time to become rampant when the representatives 
of 1,800,000 Baptists are unable to keep a few T mission- 
aries whom they have sent to preach the gospel to the 
heathens in Africa from starving. ' ' Just what the Evan- 
gelist means by this vague statement is quite difficult to 
determine. If it means that the 1,800,000 Baptists have 
supplied the money to keep the missionaries from starv- 
ing and that the board has embezzled it or refused to pay 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 117 

the missionaries, then the charge is a serious one, and the 
situation becomes grave and we join the Evangelist in 
saying "it is time to become rampant." 

If the Evangelist means that the board and Corre- 
sponding Secretary are responsible for the salary of the 
missionaries, whether the 1,800,000 Baptists furnish the 
money or not, then we most respectfully submit that such 
talk is both idle, silly, thoughtless, unreasonable, unjust 
and savors of the vaporing of a mad man. 

It is slander on the board to publish such traducing 
allegations to the world, especially in absence of proof 
to convict. The few rash and thoughtlessly edited Negro 
papers will have a mighty job to make the denomination 
in this country discredit the honesty, fidelity, veracity, 
fairness, faithfulness and ability of the noble, great 
and good men who compose our board. Rev. John H. 
Frank, the chairman of our board, possesses real ability, 
a strong personality, undoubted piety, irreproachable 
Christian character, unsurpassed honesty, and has en- 
deared himself to the Baptists throughout this entire 
country. Any intimation that he would do wrong in this 
matter is an insult to our whole denomination and race. 
Rev. Dr. C. IT. Parrish is a man of matchless ability, a 
polished Christian gentleman upon whom merciless sus- 
picion wouldn't dare light after flying around the world 
a thousand times in search of something or somebody 
upon which or whom to light. Mr. W. H. Steward, the 
popular Secretary of our Convention, the able editor of 
The American Baptist, the greatest layman in our de- 
nomination, and whom Satan himself should blush to 
accuse. AVe regard Mr. Steward as beins: one of the most 



118 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

all-around, able men of our acquaintance, and as up- 
right, honest and honorable as he is able. There are other 
members connected with the board of whom we can say 
as much. Now, to make the intimation that these men 
are starving the missionaries ought not to be tolerated 
except upon proof beyond the shadow of a reasonable 
doubt. Our Corresponding Secretary, Rev. L. G. Jordan, 
has not an equal in this work. He seems specially fitted 
for the work in which he is engaged. It seems to us 
heartless to complain of him, much less charge him. Who 
of these grumblers could do half as well as he? Our 
work has never had an abler or more faithful correspond- 
ing secretary. 

We submit that those of us who are so sorry for the 
poor, starving missionaries, show it by raising money 
on our fields of labor and sending it to the board. If the 
board is not keeping the poor missionaries from starving, 
we are sure that these learned, eloquent articles, abusing 
the board and Corresponding Secretary will not prevent 
them from starving. 

As a rule, those who grumble most give less. If we 
would stop coming up to the National Convention dress- 
ed within an inch of our lives, with the money raised from 
churches on our backs, instead of being in our pockets 
for Foreign Missions, our poor missionaries would not 
be starving and these complaints would not be possible. 
If we would represent the work instead of having our 
extravagant dress represent us and posing as some great 
ones, our work would be in a better condition. The 
Evangelist says it will not admit any defense of the 
board in its columns, and claims in so doing to be follow- 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 119 

ing the New Testament. We know not what part of the 
New Testament teaches this downright, homespun 
cowardice, for it is verily cowardice, to attack one in 
your columns and deny him the right of defense. It is 
lynching. The Evangelist insists that the Board should 
resign. The Evangelist in this shows a woeful ignorance 
of such organizations. To whom should the Board tender 
their resignation? The board is the convention during 
its recess, and there is no authority, real or imaginary, to 
whom the board could offer their resignation. It is non- 
sense to talk about the Board, the only authoritative part 
of the organization now that can be held intact during 
the recess of the convention, and which is itself greater 
than the convention during its recess, resigning. To 
whom has the constitution given power to pass upon and 
accept said resignations ? Then, should the Board resign, 
who would appoint their successors ? " 0, what fools we 
mortals be. ' ' It does seem that the Negroes are at their 
best when they are abusing and showing up the weak- 
nesses of each other. If the world wants to know how 
mean and dishonest we are, we recommend that they 
read the average Negro newspapers. 




120 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



FLASH LIGHTS ON OUR WORKS AT THE 
VARIOUS STATIONS. 

If ourselves we can not labor, 
'Mongst our brothers far away; 

We can help to send them others — 
We can work, and watch, and pray. 

— Jennie B. Garnett. 

UBBR.IA. 

Liberia is a Negro Republic on the Grain Coast of 
Upper Guinea, with 600 miles of coast and 100 miles 
average breadth. Its early development was aided by 
the American Colonization Society, organized December 
31, 1816, with Henry Clay as president. The founders 
of this society desired to give the Negro a chance for 
self-development in all the affairs of life. Their first 
efforts were not successful, but in 1821 they secured a 
more healthy location and begun work. 

Liberated slaves from the United States found refuge 
in Liberia and many came to the colony from the sur- 
rounding country. Each .man was given thirty acres 
of land for cultivation. Monrovia was founded at Cape 
Mesurado and soon became the leading town. Cape 
Mount and Caldwell, the latter named in honor of the 
originator of the scheme, were soon settled. The plan 
worked so well and the country developed so rapidly that 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 121 

in 1847 Liberia was left on her own resources and de- 
clared a free and independent republic. 

The government was committed to a President, Senate 
and House of Representatives. The president and repre- 
sentatives elected for two years and the senate four 
years. All citizens are allowed to vote at tw-enty-one, pro- 
vided they own property. The judicial power is in the 
hands of a Supreme Court and subordinate courts. 
Slavery and slave trade is prohibited. At first the 
rapid increase of the settlers and the success in establish- 
ing schools and churches was indeed astonishing. These 
institutions in the neAV Republic grew faster in propor- 
tion to the population than in the United States or 
Britain. Postal system was established and several news- 
papers published. In 1848 Great Britain recognized the 
Republic and other European powers followed. The 
population is about 1,500,000, with 50,000 speaking 
English and quite 7,000 members of the Christian 
churches. Agriculturing is extensively carried on. 
Sugar is the principal article produced, cocoa, rice and 
coffee are also cultivated. Lime made of burnt shells. 
palm oil, gold dust, indigo and coffee are the main 
exports. 

It was in this republic, near Monrovia, that Rev. 
J. O. Hayes begun mission work, more or less of an in- 
dependent nature. 

In 1881 the National Convention adopted Rev. J. O. 
Hayes as one of its missionaries to do mission work at 
this point. For some time he labored as missionary and 
teacher, but in time accepted the pastorate of the Shiloh 
Baptist Church at Brewerville, which church he is now r 



122 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

pastoring. This church was organized in the Morris 
Street Baptist Church at Charleston, S. C, in 1878 with 
a number of strong workers among its founders. These 
workers sailed in the bark "Azor, " under the American 
Colonization Society and soon begun to exert such an 
influence that many joined them. Rev. H. N. Bouy be- 
came pastor at its organization in this country. He spent 
three years in Africa, but returned to America to secure 
aid in the prosecution of an industrial school. The 
means was never given, but he is now giving excellent 
service as District Secretary under the Foreign Mission 
Board, and hopes to return to the field in 1902. The 
membership of that Church is now over 200, mostly 
Americo-Liberians. In 1884 the Bendoo Station on 
Lake Peisne, fifteen miles from Grand Cape Mound, 
was organized by Brethren Colley and Presley. A plot 
of ground of 100 acres was given them to be used by the 
National Baptist Foreign Mission Board for missionary 
purposes. This land has never been surveyed and fully 
turned over to the Board, and yet is the property of the 
Board because of the agreement between the mission- 
aries and the government. Had Brother Stewart. known 
the facts in the case earlier he would have begun his 
work there, as it is said to be one of the best spots for 
mission work in the colony. But for want of funds the 
Board would have turned its attention to its cultivation 
some time ago. In 1885 Jundoo Station was opened by 
Brother J. J. Coles on the opposite side of the same lake. 
He spent seven years in Africa, returning to this 
country once during that time, and while here married 
Miss Lucy A. Henry, and they returned to the field, 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 123 

where they labored earnestly until circumstances forced 
them to leave. After giving up the work in Africa Rev. 
Coles and wife returned home, and, still anxious to 
hasten the dawn of Christianity in Africa, applied them- 
selves to the work of helping raise means for those on the 
field. He was elected Corresponding Secretary of the 
Convention in 1893, but before the year ended he fell 
asleep. His death was indeed a blow to the denomina- 
tion. True to her sense of duty, his wife took up the 
work, having been appointed by the Executive Board 
to fill out the year. 

Mafa Station, near Grand Cape Mount, was opened 
by Rev. Henson McKinney, of Mississippi, who sailed 
from New York December 1, 1883, reaching Africa Jan- 
uary 13, 1884. He received his training for the field in 
the Jackson College, and the Liberian College in which 
he matriculated soon after his arrival. While in school 
the anxiety of this»young man to help' shed light in that 
dark land was so great that he gave much of his spare 
time to teaching the natives. In 1884 he was appointed 
to do active missionary work, and from that time to his 
death labored earnestly for the salvation of souls. In 
the vigor of manhood and burning with zeal to spend 
and be spent in Africa's redemption, on April 15, 1887, 
he was called to rest. In his death the Convention lost 
an earnest, consecrated missionary and the African a 
true friend. 

In 1893 Rev. R. L. Stewart organized an industrial 
school and begun mission work among the people of the 
Congo. The station was opened near Monrovia. Brother 
Stewart has fallen since we begun writing this history. 



124 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

No missionary under our Board has been more loyal, 
more willing and more consecrated to the work than 
he, and his death is mourned by the entire denomination. 
His illustrated lectures when he visited this country did 
much to awaken our sleeping churches on the subject of 
missions. 

Rev. R. A. Jackson, a native of Mississippi, who, dur- 
ing the last years of his stay in America, lived at Hot 
Springs, Ark., with membership in the Roanoke Baptist 
Church, went to Africa as an independent missionary in 
1894. The story of his work, as told in communications 
and reports, for nearly six years, is proof positive of his 
earnestness, The Beer-la-hai-roi (A vision of God to the 
Living Baptist Church) was organized in Capetown by 
Rev. R. A. Jackson in 1894. This has grown to be a 
strong band of worshipers of nearly three hundred 
members. In 1896 Brother George M. Thomas, 
a member of the church at Capetown, went to 
Queenstown, called a meeting and told them the story 
of Christ. His effort met with success, for many ac- 
cepted Christ and were baptized thereafter. Among the 
first persons to accept the new doctrine was E. B. P. 
Koti. Brother Thomas returned to Capetown elated over 
his victory over sin and Satan and asked Rev. R. A. 
Jackson to go with him to baptize those who had been 
converted. After traveling 750 miles Brother Jackson 
came to Queenstown on the 17th day of January, 1897, 
and in the presence of Almighty God and a crowd of 
witnesses, baptized fourteen souls, the first fruits of the 
efforts of George Thomas. From this sprang the Queens- 
town church, now one of our most important stations. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 125 

In 1898 Brother Koti was ordained by Rev. R. A. Jack- 
son and Rev. C. S. Morris, and is now pastoring at 
Queenstown and carrying on mission work at two other 
stations near that place. It will be remembered that 
Rev. Koti came to this country April, 1900, and spent 
several months traveling and lecturing in interest of his 
work. 

His visit was in every way a blessing to the cause of 
missions. He made many friends and when he sailed 
January 23, 1901, among his effects were many useful 
gifts, among whch was an organ for his chapel, the gift 
of the Francis Street Church, Rev. E. M. Cohron, pastor, 
St. Joseph, Mo. ;also $200 toward the erection of a chapel, 
which money was raised by the Foreign Mission Board 
for this purpose. Rev. E. W. D. Isaac, Secretary of the 
B. Y. P. IT., became very much interested in the work 
Brother Koti was trying to do and pledged $700 from 
his young people for his chapel, which amount he is now 
making a great effort to raise by the National meeting. 
With these needed helps our brother received new in- 
spiration and is now laboring earnestly to get his work 
in good shape. Mr. Joseph I. Buchanan, of Baltimore, 
Mel., who had followed the life of a sailor for eight years, 
found himself shipped for Africa. Having become a 
Christian while in Maryland, and on reaching his father- 
land, seeing the needs of the heathen, he felt that here 
was where God wanted him, therefore to tell of Christ, 
who alone can save, became the desire of his soul. He 
settled in Capetown and soon formed a mission, where 
he talked of Jesus to all whom he could reach. When 
Rev. R. A. Jackson came to Capetown Brother Buchanan 



126 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

joined him, turned over his work to the Rev. Mr. Jack- 
son and himself became a deacon after being baptized. 
After two years he felt that God wanted him to go 
into the interior and carry the story of the Gospel. He 
accordingly took up his journey, and after a long and 
perilous travel came to "Kahma's Land/' Middle Drift, 
1,000 miles from Capetown. Here he pitched his tent 
and begun work. A successful revival was the result, 
and he immediately sent to Capetown for Rev. Jackson 
to come down and baptize for him, which he did, and they 
organized the St. Joseph Baptist Church. On return- 
ing to Capetown Brother Buchanan was set apart to the 
Gospel ministry by the laying on of hands by Brethren 
Jackson and Johns. In one year he had baptized 310 
persons at Middle Drift. His w T ork grew very rapidly. 
His encouraging reports to the Board, as published from 
time to time, made for him many friends in this coun- 
try. In 1898 the First Baptist Church Sunday school,. 
Helena, Ark., Mr. Dawson, superintendent, made him a 
gift of a large chapel bell, which did more to inspire the 
natives than can be told., Indeed when the first Gospel 
call was heard from this bell Brother Buchanan states 
that far and near the news was noised abroad that the 
"big Baptist bell had come from America.," and many 
flocked to the mission and were saved. His last report 
shows that he has eleven stations, at four of which are 
good church buildings. Rev. Buchanan visited America 
in 1889 in interest of his work. While here he formed 
the acquaintance of Miss J. P. Moore, founder of the 
Fire Side Schools, who was so touched with the needs 
of the field in which he was so earnestly laboring, that 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 127 

she decided to help him prosecute his school work by 
giving $100 per year of self-denial money from her 
workers. The school was started, and true to her word, 
this friend of humanity and lover of good works has, 
since the day of its opening, supported through her self- 
denial contributors, this school. We beg to state here 
that Sister Moore has spent many years in work among 
Negroes, and her efforts have been the means of making 
hundreds of homes purer and better in every respect. 
There has never labored among us a more consecrated, 
faithful Christian woman than this sage. Her memory 
shall ever be perpetuated in the homes and hearts of 
thousands of women in this country, and by those who 
live in and near Middle Drift, South Africa. Had it 
not been for her kind and timely help we would not 
have been able to keep up the schools in connection with 
the church work at Middle Drift, where many children 
flock to receive instructions. 

On March 21, 1897, Rev. Johnson Mfozwe, also a 
member of the Capetown church, went to Port Elizabeth 
and opened a mission station. He is still engaged in the 
work. In 1900 he went to Durham, Natal, to work, and 
is regarded as a good evangelist, and is our only worker 
in Natal, and has two churches, each of which has over 
200 members. 

THK NATIVE CHURCH. 

Eev. Jonas Goduka, formerly a. Wesleyan, who tired 
of the unbrotherly treatment of his white brethren and 
finding that they persisted in their discriminating rule, 
left the denomination and organized the African Native 



128 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

Church. In course of time Rev. E. A. Jackson was in the 
interior baptizing and organizing the churches. He at- 
tracted the attention of this black apostle, Rev. Jonas 
Goduka, who was anxious to know the whole truth as 
set forth in the Scriptures and begun to correspond with 
Missionary Jackson on the question of baptism. This 
correspondence resulted in the settling of the honest con- 
victions of Rev. Goduka as to Bible baptism. He invited 
Brother Jackson to Hillside Blikana (via Herschel), 
where he was laboring, to confer with him and to baptize 
him and many of those who had decided to be baptized 
arid worship as set forth in the New Testament teach- 
ings. Just at this time Rev. C. S. Morris, Commissioner 
for the Foreign Mission Board, arrived at Capetown, 
and while at Queenstown, in company with Rev. Jackson, 
Brother Goduka and his helpers had a conference with 
them. After the conference and a thorough understand- 
ing of the New Testament doctrines, with forty-seven 
leaders who had come out from the AVesleyan Church, 
Rev. Goduka put on Christ by baptism at the hands of 
Rev. C. S. Morris. He and his followers then turned 
their attention to the thirteen churches with their 1,200 
members which had also pulled out from the Wesleyans. 
It was not long before all of them were turned and led, 
under Brother Goduka, to the Baptist denomination. 

. Word came to us in America of the great victory, but 
it is sad to state that this work was not permanent, and 
to-day Brother Goduka and all of that band, with three 
or four exceptions have gone back to most of their 
former practices. This did not prove the modern pente- 
cost as we had hoped. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 129 

Mr. Peter Lesi, who with Johnson Mf ozwe was ordain- 
ed by Rev. C. S. Morris in September, 1899, is at King 
Williamstown, South Africa. This is a city of 12,000, 
and great opportunities for doing an effective work are 
before him. 

When we think of the influence that has gone out 
from this Capetown Church through the various work- 
ers, w r hen we note that all of the work in South Africa 
sprung from this point, we are more and more convinced 
of the fact that ''a little leaven leaveneth the whole 
lump." Truly, Capetown is the New York of the dark 
continent, and to religious work the Jerusalem, and 
Beer-la-hai-roi Church our "Antioch." 

KAST CENTRAL AFRICA. 

Imbued with the spirit, and touched by the needs 
of the millions of blacks about him, Mr. Joseph Booth, 
a lay worker in Mr. Spurgeon's church, working in East 
Coast Africa, resolved to come to x\.merica and lay the 
needs of that neglected land heavily upon the hearts of 
the Christians of this country. He, accordingly set sail 
in 1897 and landed in April of the same year. With 
him came a native young man about twenty-three years 
of age and of rare natural abilities. 

For months he and this bright lad toured this coun- 
try and so touched the hearts of the American Negroes 
everywhere that many were moved to tears of sympathy 
and resolvd to join in the salvation of Africa. 

Mr. Booth had hoped to receive $30,000 to start an 
industrial work in East Central Africa, but he knew that 



130 TJP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

while the Negro Christians were willing to do all chey 
could according to the light they had, that they were 
too poor to give so great a sum of money. Many wealthy 
Christians of the North and several missionary organiza- 
tions were appealed to by him, but because of the fact 
that so great an investment was to be made on Negroes 
his appeals fell on deaf ears. We can never forget the 
day when he made his last effort. He had the promise 
of a conference with the officials of the American Bap- 
tist Home Mission Society and the American Baptist 
Missionary Union in New York, where they were to hold 
a session to divide the money raised from churches, or- 
ganizations, and through a special gift from Mr. John 
D. Rockefeller, which total contributions enabled them 
to wipe out the debts under which they had been 
struggling for years. He wrote us of the conference and 
asked that we join him in New York, to be present. AYe 
went, and as we ascended to those rooms where the meet- 
ing was being held Mr. Booth seemed much disturbed, 
but on seeing such an army of noted Christian workers 
representing the wealthiest organizations in the world, 
he took courage. As if a burden laid heavily upon him 
he arose, and in an anxious and touching manner ap- 
pealed to those men to help him in some way to take up 
the work in that part of Africa, so long neglected and so 
ready for the Gospel. AYhen he had finished, Dr. Duncan, 
one of the officials, as if excited at the idea, threw up his 
hands and said, "YTe can't give you any money. If 
you want advice we can give you that." This 
abrupt, unchristianly blow almost stunned Mr. 
Booth. He took the lad and we retired from the 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 131 

scene. With a trembling voice and tears in his eyes, he 
turned to us after we had gone down the steps and said, 
"There is the lad. Can you get him in school V We 
were even more touched than he, for as we looked at that 
black boy of no mean ability, willing, ready and anxious 
for an education and Christian training, the ties that 
bound us as a race were tightened and we resolved, with 
God's help, to take him and do what we could for him. 
We at once secured him a scholarship in Virginia Theo- 
logical Seminary and College at Lynchburg, Va. The 
Baptists of Pennsylvania pledged and payed for a part 
of his schooling and the President, Prof. G. W. Hayes, 
gave the other. 

After two years of earnest study he was set apart 
to the work of the Gospel ministry at Lynchburg, Va. 
He sailed on June 20, 1899, for his home on the Zambesi. 
This was none other than Eev. John Chilembwe, who is 
now engaged in mission work at Chiradzulo, B. C, 
Af ricaj and conducting an industrial school with nearly 
200 pupils. 

The work at this station is indeed a credit to the de- 
nomination, and this young man has done a great work 
among his tribe — the Ajaw's. He is giving much atten- 
tion to the industrial feature of his work and has se- 
cured for cultivation a tract of ninety-three acres. At 
the Arkansas Baptist Convention in 1899, $7.50 was 
given to buy coffee plants. In December, 1900, he set 
out 13,956 coffee trees. With the proper support this 
farm will soon yield the denomination from five to fifty 
pounds of coffee per year from each tree after the third 
year's growth, which trees will bear for fifty years with 



132 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

proper cultivation. As this section of Africa is especially 
adapted to the growth of coffee and the lowest market 
value is sixteen cents per pound, in four years from now 
the coffee from these trees will over support the work 
there and enable us to do work at other points in that 
section. Rev. L. N. Cheek, who sailed January 23, 1901, 
has joined Mr. Chilembwe, and with his help we can but 
hope for greater results. 

Few men have come to this country and made more 
friends than Brother Chilembwe. His gentlemanly 
bearing, his true and honest nature and his earnest con- 
viction to tell the truth under any circumstances, were 
traits of strong character that were very marked in his 
life. Besides receiving many pledges for support while 
on the field many gifts have come to us for him. When 
Brother Cheek sailed in January he carried with, him 
for our brother a large trunk of made garments, cotton, 
needles, thread, pins, pencils, paper, bedding, the gifts 
of our women throughout the country. Along with 
these went a sewing machine given him by the Missionary 
Society and Sunday School, Second Baptist Church, 
Hernando, Miss., Mrs. P. M. Martin, President, and a 
chapel bell the gift of Rev. G. W. Lewis, of Arkansas. 

It was desired that Miss E. B. Delany, of Florida, 
be sent by her State to this station, as the services of some 
good Christian woman was very much needed. The way 
may yet be opened and some woman will be sent there to 
teach domestic industry and in a material way help on 
the work. 

We, who live in the dawn of the Twentieth century, 
can truly say, "Mine eyes hath seen the glory of 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 133 

the coming of the Lord," when we notice the great Bap- 
tist army marshalling its forces and swinging nearly 
around that grand old continent, a distance of over 5,000 
miles, with reconnoitering parties making their way into 
the interior and enlisting men and women who have 
never heard the command, "Follow Me." 

Guarding the post, away up on the Western Coast, at 
Senegal, is Eev. Roberts with the only Baptist church 
in all French Africa. Nine hundred miles to the south 
in Freetown is Rev. G. T. Lawson, with a large corps 
of laborers and seventy-five strong young Baptists in 
training; one hundred and fifty miles to Monrovia, 
with 3,500 Baptists, is Rev. Dr. R. B. Richard- 
son and others. Leaving Monrovia, going south- 
ward, we come to Cape Coast Castle and greet her 600 
Baptists under Rev. Mark C. Hayford; 250 miles down 
the coast to Lagos and we find Rev. Majola Agbebi, 
A. M., Ph. D., strong in character, wonderful in intel- 
lect and consecrated in service, holding high in his un- 
daunted, hand the banner that will conquer Africa. On 
to Accra, after a travel of sixty miles, and we find Rev. 
Robert Tago at work. 

Take up the travel once more and 600 miles will bring 
us to Cameroon, where Rev. Joshua Dibundu labors; 
2,700 miles more down the coast and we are at Capetown, 
where Rev. R. A. Jackson, a son of Mississippi, the Peter 
of Negro Baptist Missions in South Africa, whose love 
and faith have evoked a spirit that has been the means 
of saving many, for from his labors has come our own 
Buchanan, Koti, Mfozwe and scores of others, who, 
with the message hot from the altar, are now delivering 



134 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

it with great power throughout South Africa. Up, up, 
way up, the Eastern Coast, 2000 miles on the Zambesi 
River, whose waters tell of the former glory of Africa 
and of her coming redemption, labors one of Africa's" 
own sons, one of the grandest characters she ever 
bosomed; young in years, docile, manly, dauntless, God 
fearing, Rev. John Chilembwe, at the head of seven tribes 
numbering 7,000,000. With him is our own L. N. Cheek, 
w T hose brotherly nature and zeal for the work will doubt- 
less mark him as a loyal, successful helper. 

Truly the morning light is breaking and Ethiopia is 
stretching forth her hands unto Almighty God. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 135 



THE VALUE OF A SOUL. 
DO YOU SAY IT IS TOO LONG BETWEEN DROPS? 

Full many a gem. of purest ray serene, 
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear. 

Stand near a drip about your house while the rain 
slowly descends. See that large stone just under the 
drip. Count the drops as they fall from the gutter, one 
by one, upon that stone. Each drop washes away a 
particle of dirt and makes it cleaner. Leave the scene 
for five years and then return. You left a half dirty 
stone without a single impression on it, but, behold, the 
drops no longer fall and roll off, but the constant, con- 
stant, constant, untiring beat has made a deep impres- 
sion so that some of the water is retained. Now, what 
was an unpolished, unattractive stone, has its surface 
whitened, and its center has been penetrated so that it 
contains a drop of pure, clear water. Go with us to Bur- 
mah, where Adoniram Judson labored six long years 
before he had a single convert; visit India, where Wil- 
liam Carey spent seven years of untiring labor before 
Krishnu Pal, his first convert, accepted Christ ; now visit 
China, where Morrison labored seven years; Polynesia, 
where for sixteen years a lone man toiled, resulting in 
the conversion of King Pomare II; in Greenland, the 
first missionary spent five years; Madagascar, thirteen 



136 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

years ; Labrador, five years ; New Zealand, eleven years ; 
Japan, five years ; in South Africa, Moffat worked eight 
years ; and on the Congo, Richardson spent seven years. 
Their efforts were but drops upon stones, but by that 
constant, constant, untiring never-giving-up spirit, they 
beat their way, like the drops of water, into the hearts 
of these souls and left there "A well of water springing 
up into unto Everlasting Life." Though the progress 
of Christianity in these countries has been slow, its work 
has been lasting, and they paved the way for modern 
missionaries. You say negro Baptists have labored twen- 
ty long years and have saved only about three thousand 
souls. These men labored from five to seventeen years 
each, saving a single soul each. We can not appreciate 
their efforts, nor our efforts, until we know the worth of 
a single soul. We can not tell the good they have done 
in the salvation of that soul until we fathom the bottom- 
less pit or scale the highest heaven. We can not esti- 
mate the value of a single soul until we know the mean- 
ing of a never-ending hell or a never-ending heaven. 
Eternity can only stamp the seal of value on a soul. 
Francis Xavier, when Prance remonstrated at his going 
to .heathen lands, remarked, "If these lands had scented 
woods and mines of gold, Christians would find courage 
to go there ; nor would all the perils of the world prevent 
them. They are alarmed because there is nothing to be 
gained there but the souls of men. * * * Whatever form 
of torture or death awaits me I am ready to suffer it a 
thousand times over for the salvation of a single soul." 
For four thousand years God was planning the salva- 
tion of man. At last the plan was completed, the Saviour 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 137 

born, and in after years, when trying to have men realize 
the worth of that soul he came to save, He exclaimed, 
1 i There is more joy in heaven over one sinner that repent- 
eth than over ninety and nine just persons that needeth 
no repentance. ? ' Reader, do you know the value of your 
soul? Do 3^011 know the value of your brother's soul? 
Will you help save him? 

Remember, you are but one, but you are one; 

You can not do everything-, but you can do something-; 

What you can do, you ought to do, 

And what you ought to do, 

By the grace of God we hope you will do. 



138 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



PASTORS RESPONSIBLE. 

L,end a hand! Lend a hand! 

In the work for the world! 
Place these words on your banner? 

Never let it be furled. 

While sin, pain and sadness 

Holds sway in the world, 
L<end a hand! Lend a hand! 

In the work for the world! 

There are eyes that are weeping- 

Where none wipe the tears; 
There are hearts that are breaking* 

For tiding-s of good cheer; 

There are sinners who would turn 
From their sins, were you near. 

Lend a hand! Lend a hand! 
In the work for the world. 

Today we have hundreds of preachers going up and 
down the earth, hunting fields. Many pulpits are vacant. 
The doors of many homes are shut against certain 
preachers. There is a general unrest among the ministry. 
Some out of employment, others about to be put out, 
others trying to get out, and many more trying to get 
in. Why this condition of affairs? Do you think that 
Christ would like to see these offsprings of the seed to 
whom he said: 

' ' If ye love me keep my commandments. And I will 
pray the Father, and he shall give you another Com- 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 139 

forter, that he may abide with you for ever."— John 
14 :15, 16. No. But there is a cause for this state of af- 
fairs. Too much self and not enough God. Too mucli 
mine and not enough Thine. No man who trusts God and 
does as He commands him wanders alone in the wilder- 
ness. As long as Israel obeyed God she prospered, but 
it was when she turned to serving other gods that want 
and destruction overtook her. To every missionary 
Baptist pastor God gave distinct orders, "Go ye into all 
the ivorld and preach the Gospel to every creature. — 
Matt. 28 :19, 20. 

Read, if you will, sacred history and you will find 
from its very beginning that God has always 
taken care of his anointed. David declares, "I have 
been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the 
righteous forsaken nor his seed begging for bread." In 
the 13th chapter, 2d and 3d verses of the Acts of the 
Apostles, we have the call of two missionary Baptist 
preachers. The 4th verse of the same chapter tells us, 
"so they, 'being sent forth by the Holy Ghost/' in 
obedience to the orders of the Commander in Chief, 
went, and we know the results of the works of Paul and 
Barnabas. 

The United States nor England has not a soldier nor 
a sailor in all their services who would not go into all the 
world in defense of their respective flags. These men 
hold their commission from the highest officer in the 
land, and these orders are to them imperative. 

Having accepted service under the King of kings, 
and having been given our commission, are we to be less 
obedient than the soldiers of earthly rulers ? Every man 



140 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

who enters upon the Gospel ministry understands that he 
enlists to do as God says do, and not as he wants to do. 
No one under service expects to do as he pleases, but, as 
pleases the one whom he serves. Until the day comes 
when we can sink into utter oblivion the weather-beaten, 
time-worn phrase, "I do not believe" this or that, and 
wear as a breast-plate ' ' Thus saith the Lord, ' ' this state 
of affairs will exist, and instead of appearing like am- 
bassadors, we will develop into an army of bread-and- 
butter hunters or camp followers, deserving a dishonor- 
able discharge from the service of God. 

The way in which some of our pastors act, one would 
think that the great commission was not given to them. 
They pay no attention to God's orders, but continue to 
harp away on "what I believe." In the face of God's 
statements, what place should our belief have? They 
preach from the text, "Go ye into all the world and 
preach the Gospel to every creature," and will turn 
and say, "I do not believe in Foreign Missions," and. 
putting into acts their words, will not contribute to those 
who are sent as missionaries to foreign fields. These 
men either knowingly or ignorantly disobey God. The 
day is coming and is not far distant when the churches 
must say" to those brethren, "Execute your commission 
or resign it." 

Further, the people do not withhold their gifts be- 
cause they are too poor to give, but because they are not 
taught that giving for the prosecution of the Gospel is a 
sacred duty. There isn't a Christian in our 15,567 
missionary Baptist churches who could not give twocents 
per year for Foreign Missions. This means $37,092 from 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 141 

the 1,854,600 Negro Baptists. We have not been giving 
a fourth of this amount until 1900, when we got $7,069.- 
64. Now whose fault is it ? Surely not the people's. For 
they pay every debt the church makes, from matches to 
a fifty or a hundred thousand dollar edifice. They are 
told to pay it and they do it. "When the pastors make the 
support of missions among the current expenses and 
ask each member to give one cent every six months, they 
will get it and the board will have that $37,092 without 
having to spend a fortune in appeals, printing and travel, 
begging the people for a few dollars after they have 
drained them. Pastors must teach the people that their 
commissions tells them to -preach the Gospel to every 
creature, and if they are to stay with them, they must 
execute their commissions just the same by preaching 
through their ambassadors — their missionaries on the 
field. Some of our pastors speak of the size of the field 
in which they labor, and excuse themselves on the ground 
that the church is too poor. The same pastors preach 
from the text, "Lord, I know Thou art an hard man, 
reaping where Thou hast now sown, ' ? and condemns the 
man with one talent for not using what God gave him. 
Now, if God gave them the field, poor though it be, He 
meant for them to develop it as much as the man with 
the one talent. They make the same charge against God. 
Brethren, let us not deceive ourselves. The pastor 
is both instructor and leader of the people. He must 
direct their activity as well as administer to their souls. 
Where you lead they will follow. If you believe in 
foreign missions they will, too; if you give for foreign 
missions, so will the people. If you are an anti-mission- 



142 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

ary pastor you will have an anti-missionary church. If 
you are ignorant on the subject of missions, you will 
have a church of the same type. Knowing then that your 
influence and example rules the people you lead, lead 
aright, else you and your people alike will be smitten by 
Almighty God. Isaiah says in the 16th verse of the 9th 
chapter: "For the leaders of this people cause them to 
err ; and they that are led of them are destroyed. ' ' 

In consulting our records, we note that not 200 pas- 
tors, in any year, have sent in a personal contribution 
for missions, and yet every^ one of them preach over and 
over, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel." 
Brethren, if we continue to treat God's orders this way, 
after preaching to others of duty and failing ourselves 
to do so, will we not become castaways ? The old adage, 
"Do not do as I do but as I tell you," is condemna- 
tory, for the pastor is to be an example to the flock. 
Christ, our leader, has never told us to do anything nor 
to suffer anything that He has not done and suffered. 
The rule must be, I am Christ's ambassador; I do as he 
says do and you must do likewise. I preach unto you 
by commandment and if you are His you will obey. 

The building of schools and institutions of learning 
should not be paramount, but the extension of the 
kingdom in all the world should be the actuating and 
propelling force in the hearts of the Christian ministry. 
The age is pregnant with a peculiar ambition to build 
these institutions at the expense of the very objects for 
which the church stands. In the face of "The Petty 
Done; the Undone Vast," will we continue to boast of 
what "my church has done or what I have done" when 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 143 

in Central Africa there is one ordained missionary to 
5,000,000 people ; in Arabia, one to 1,500,000 ; in China, 
one to 733,000 ; in Siam, one to 600,000 ; in Corea, one 
to 500,000; in India, one to 350,000; in Africa (as a 
whole), one to 300,000; in Persia, one to 300,000; in 
Japan, one to 215,000; in Burmah, one to 200,000; in 
Madagascar, one to 100,000; in Turkey, one to 45,000; 
in Syria, one to 30,000. 

While in the United States, the average proportion 
of ministers is one to 800 of the population, in non- 
Christian countries the average is one minister to 
400,000. 



144 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



WOMAN AND HER WORK. 

As unto the bow the cord is, 

So unto man is woman — 

Though she bends him, she obeys him; 

Though she draws him, yet she follows; 

Useless each without the other. 

The cry of the Master, "Say unto them— Behold I 
have set before thee an opened door which no man can 
shut," and the needy calls from the heathen sister, 
4 ' Come over and help us, ' ' had been upon woman 's heart 
for years, but not until April 3, 1871, did Baptist wo- 
men meet to organize. Men have not always held women 
to be their helpmates, as provided by God's word, but had 
little faith in her ability to manage business concerns. 
The old idea in Baptist churches of, "If woman wants 
to know any thing, let her ask her husband at home, 77 
held a large place in the hearts of many very eminent 
men of the denomination. At this April meeting, in the 
Clarondon Street Baptist Church, Boston, Mass., The 
"Woman's Baptist Society was organized to act in con- 
junction with the Missionary Union. In the same year 
Mrs. C. P. Tolman, a returned missionary from Assiam 
was so interested in the women of the West, that at her 
call a meeting was held in the First Baptist Church in 
Chicago, where the Woman's Foreign Society was or- 
ganized. In the past twenty-nine years of their existence 




Officers of the Woman's Convention, auxiliary to the National 
Baptist Convention. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 145 

they had ninety-eight missionaries in Burmah, India, 
Assiam, China, Japan, Africa and France. "Not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister/' is the motto under 
which, in 1887, the Baptist women of the Southern Bap- 
tist Convention was organized to do home and foreign 
mission work. They support no missionaries separate 
from the Southern Convention, but seek to answer all the 
appeals of the boards of the convention. Their efforts 
are centered in three seasons of the year, viz. : Christmas 
Offerings for Frontier "Work; Self-denial "Week, and 
Children's Day for Missions. Sad, and strange, to say 
that many of these devout Christian women have not as 
yet turned their attention to the spread of the Gospel 
in "Long Wronged Africa," from which their fathers 
stole her son and daughters, who toiled unceasingly for 
over two hundred years without money and without 
price. If there is one class of people on the face of the 
earth to which American Christians, and especially 
Southern Christian organizations, owe anything it is 
the African, and no class of people should be more 
willing to help them than the white women, more 
particularly those of the South whom they served 
so long and faithfully. It is our prayer that God will 
hasten the day when "humanity" will include black men 
and black women as well as those of other races and 
colors. Women have been doubling their efforts each 
year, and recent reports show that there are fifty-three 
Women's Boards, four of which are in Canada, and their 
united gifts last year amounted to $2,600,00. Under 
their two cents per week plan over $30,000,00 has been 
raised since the plan was started a few years ago. This 



146 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

proves conclusively that women understand systematic 
giving, and it further shows the great income from 
these small sums from so many honest earnest workers. 

Women have formed a solid phalanx "for Christ and 
the Church" in all the world. But we see another ban- 
ner just unfurled in the rear. With eager eyes we watch 
to see the emblem and inquire, who are they? On the 
banner in letters of gold we read, "The World for 
Christ; women, arise, He calleth for thee." Who are 
they? They are the black volunteers. A sisterhood as 
consecrated, as loyal and as willing as any band of Chris- 
tians on the face of the globe. Though fettered for 
years these daughters of Zion have by their loyalty and 
zeal in all of our efforts bursted the bands asunder and 
now unfettered they have started into the realm of ac- 
tivity with "duty" as a breast-plate. It might be here 
mentioned that for many years the women followed up 
the National Meetings and held a session when they 
could. We are told that at the National Meeting in 
Montgomery, Ala., September, 1894, that the women 
were organized, but we have no records of any work 
done. 

At St. Louis, in 1896, the convention discountenanced 
the idea of women meeting apart from the National Con- 
vention, and so the women's work went to pieces in 1896. 
This w^as indeed a blow to many of the consecrated wo- 
men who had hoped the clay would come when they could 
join the convention in its great work. Mrs. M. A. 
Clark, of Maryland, for several years after this, tried to 
hold the work intact by correspondence with our sisters, 
but not having an organization back of her she found 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS.. 147 

little encouragement. During 1899 and 1900 a righteous 
discontent was felt among the women and many of them 
expressed a desire to organize under the Convention. 
Many letters came to us on the subject and just before 
our National Meeting, September, 1900, we issued a call, 
in response to which many of the best women workers 
in our churches came to our meeting in Richmond. Our 
recommendation to the Convention to allow the women 
to organize was accepted and the "Woman's Convention 
Auxiliary to the National Baptist Convention was or- 
ganized in the Third Street A. M. E. Church September 
13, 1900, with the following officers: 

Mrs. S. W. Layten, President, Philadelphia, Pa. ; 
Mrs. P. J. Bryant, Vice President, Atlanta, Ga. ; Miss 
N. H. Burroughs, Corresponding Secretary, "Washing- 
ton, D. C; Mrs. V. W. Broughton, Recording Secretary, 
Nashville, Tenn. ; Miss S. C. V. Foster, Treasurer, Mont- 
gomery, Ala. 

State Vice Presidents: Mrs. C. M.Wells, Montgomery, 
Ala.; Mrs. J. H. Brown, Arkansas; Mrs. M. 
Williams, California; Mrs. G. W. Tyler, New 
Haven, Conn.; Miss Katie Anderson, Washington, 
D. C; Mrs. A. M. Holman, Tampa, Fla.; Miss 
S. A. Fisher, Lagrange, Ga. ; Mrs. Annie M. Payton, 
Chicago, 111. ;Mrs. Maggie C. Cox, O. T. ;Miss Lizzie Crit- 
tendon, Louisville, Ky. ; Mrs. M. D. Jones, Topeka. Kan. ; 
Mrs. Bettie F. Hunter, Miss. ; Mrs. Mary F. Green, Bal- 
timore, Md.; Mrs. Godsey, St. Louis, Mo.; Mrs. E. H. 
McDonald, New Bedford,. Mass. ; Miss C. Fannie Blount, 
Wilmington, N. C. ; Mrs. E. L. Eatman, Koselle, N. J.; 
Mrs. Delia Hill, New York, N. Y.; Mrs. Wm. Belay, 



148 L'P THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

Xenia, Ohio ; Mrs. D. F. Brown, Philadelphia, Pa. ; Mrs. 
R. J. Rat cliff, Nashville, Term.; Mrs~M. M. Buckner, 
Austin, Tex. ; Mrs. Elizabeth Fox, Salem, Va. ; Mrs. 
J. P. Brown, Washington. 

Several of the States were not represented, but since 
then the following persons have been appointed as vice 
presidents: Miss Belle W. Battle, Ardmore, I. T.; Mrs. 
Mattie Griggsby, Indianapolis, Ind. ; Mrs. D. Stratton, 
St. Albans, W. Ya. The objects of the convention are, 
first, to engage in world wide missions, by praying, giv- 
ing and working. Second, to stimulate and enlist the 
women of all Missionary Baptist Churches in mission 
and educational work at home and abroad. Third, to 
labor for the highest development of Christian woman- 
hood. To these ends they appeal to each and every 
Christian woman to pray and labor. 

In our foreign mission work we find, upon consulting 
records, that the women are among our most faithful 
contributors. Through their district and State organiza- 
tions we have always received very hearty responses to 
our appeals from year to year. 

"With a national organization, a body around which 
all may center their interests, we can but say, " It is the 
beginning of better work for Christ." 

AYhile the Convention is yet in its infancy its influ- 
ence is felt throughout the country, and as they are mak- 
ing a great effort to so stimulate and arouse the women 
in their first annual meeting that woman 's work through- 
out the country will take on new life. 

We can but feel that all departments of our national 
work will be financially and spiritually blessed by their 
concentrated efforts. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS, 149 



CONTEMPLATED INDUSTEIAL MISSIONS IN 

AFRICA. 

"THE COMMON SENSE MISSION FOR AFRICA."— Stanley. 

That the industrial development of the natives must 
go hand in hand with the spiritual will not be denied. 
Indeed the keynote to Africa's redemption depends upon 
the obedience to God's command to Adam, "By the 
sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread." The natives 
must be taught the sacredness of honest toil as well as 
the necessity of conversion. 

More and more the eyes of the Christian world are 
becoming opened on this important fact, so that hand in 
hand with Christian training goes the industrial train- 
ing. A century will pass before two-thirds of her sons, 
even with greater educational advantages, will be free 
from the soil. We believe with a renewed interest in 
the industrial development of the African will come an 
inspiration for self help that will not come as long as 
his spiritual wants are administered to and the secular 
left unnoticed. The climate, the easy cultivation of the 
soil, the motherly care of nature in providing enough to 
exist upon makes the average African indolent, but. if 
he is once made to know that with his aid the soil will 



150 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

double her income and the land will bring an increase 
of ten fold, Africa will soon become the garden spot of 
all the world. If the natives are once turned to the de- 
velopment of all that God has given them, even in their 
own land, Africa's redemption will be assured. 

Several of our missionaries have tried to do some in- 
dustrial work in connection with their religious work, 
but for want of means to pay teachers the work has not 
grown very rapidly. We have elsewhere given an ac- 
count of our work at Chirazulo under Brother John 
Chilembwe. This is of course our best work along the 
industrial line. 

In 1898 "the African Baptist Society was organized 
at New York with Rev. Cornelius Woelfken, President, 
Brooklyn > Rev. Wm. A. Credditt, A. M., Vice Presi- 
dent, Philadelphia; Rev. Jas. A. Francis, Correspond- 
ing Secretary, New York ; Mr. Joseph Booth, Field Sec- 
retary and missionary, Philadelphia ; R. V. Lewis, Esq., 
Treasurer, New York. 

Executive Committee. 

Rev. E. S. Hollowway, Chairman; Rev. W. H. Phil- 
lips, D. D., Rev. W. T. Dorwood, Rev. J. Wesley Sul- 
livan, Rev. J. "W. Sullivan, Rev. Chas. Schiverkert, Rev. 
Richard Hartley, Rev. E. W. Moore, Rev. Walter H. 
Brooks, D. D., Prof. Booker T. Washington, Mrs. C, H. 
Banes. 

The purpose of the organization was to undertake 
the prosecution of industrial work in Africa. Rev. C. S. 
Morris, then pastoring at West Newton, Mass., was 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 151 

chosen as their financial agent, to succeed Mr. Booth, the 
originator of the plan and the first financial agent of the 
organization, who had resigned and returned to Africa 
under another board. Their plans attracted the atten- 
tion of many of the leading divines in the East. 

In June, 1899, Rev. C. S. Morris sailed for Africa for 
the purpose of inspecting the field, and to look out for 
the most desirable place in which his society could begin 
work. His expenses were defrayed by the American 
Baptist Missionary Union and the Foreign Mission 
Board of the National Baptist Convention, in connection 
with his own society. In return for this assistance Rev. 
Morris was to visit the Union's work on the Congo and 
the work of the Foreign Mission Board in West, South 
and East Central Africa. He went direct to South 
Africa. 

His visit to our Western station was a success in that 
Brother Stewart and many of the leading Liberian Bap- 
tists decided to join him in his effort to open an in- 
dustrial mission on that coast. 

En route home from Monrovia, West Africa, Brother 
Morris stopped at Senegal and organized the work there. 
This is within French territory and promises to become 
a permanent and flourishing station. The work is now in 
charge of Mr. W. A. D. Roberts, who seems to be quite 
a strong Baptist. Brother Morris spent several days 
at CapetoAvn and seized the opportunity to explain to 
Brother Jackson's people that the reason why the chapel 
at Capetown had not been built, that the denomination 
in America had not given the money with which to do 
so. This settled any possible thought from them that 



152 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

Brother Jackson was using the money for his support. 
He visited other points in South Africa, but his health 
began to fail and he did not complete the tour on which 
he started and returned to America in January, 1900, 
after four months in Africa. Had it been possible for 
him to have spent more time on the continent greater 
good might have been accomplished, and the thirteen new 
churches so strengthened that they would have remain- 
ed with us. On his return, the Foreign Mission Board 
and the Missionary Union entered into a plan of co- 
operation, the Union paying him $1,000 per year as 
salary. It was agreed that he spend two-thirds of his 
time among the colored churches and one-third among 
the white churches of the North, raising means and in- 
teresting people in African missions. The Foreign Mis- 
sion Board was responsible for his traveling expenses 
to the amount of $500 per year. The contract has been 
in force one year, and it is now hoped that the Union will 
be able to continue this help or aid Brother Morris in 
his industrial work which he hopes to undertake in 
Africa. The Industrial Society under which he started 
to work has disbanded, but if the work is undertaken 
it is believed that the National Baptist Convention, 
through its Foreign Mission Board, will do all it can to 
help foster the work until it becomes self-supporting. 

Brother Morris has made many friends since travel- 
ing in this country and it is believed that the Baptists 
will rally to him and his industrial work w 7 hen he goes 
to the field. 

The fact that Brother Stewart has fallen makes his 
task more arduous. Because of Brother Stewart's long 



ft 



JO 

V! 



n 



o 

si 
o 

C0 



o 

o 



n 

o 




UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 153 

experience and Brother Morris' zeal for this feature of 
mission work it would not have been long before the 
field would be self-supporting. While we regret the 
death of our Brother Stewart, God has doubtless put 
in training this young man to take up where he left off. 



154 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



CONTRIBUTIONS. 



And he said unto them t Go ye into all the world, and preach 
the Gospel to e^bery creature* He that beli&vetb and is baptized shall 
he sa<ved; hut he that helie r beth not shall be damned. Mark 16: 15, 16* 

In hope of eternal life, which God, that can not lie, promised 
before the %orld began; but hath in due times manifested his word 
through preaching. Titus I: 2, 3. 

breach the word; be instant in season, out of season; re- 
prove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine . 
J7 Timothy 4:2. 

Believe? hope, love, pray, burn, waken the dead ! Hold 
fast by prayer ; wrestle like Jacob ! Up, up, my brethren ! 
The Lord is coming-, and to every one He will say, "Where 
hast thou left the souls of these heathen ? With the devil ?" 
Oh, swiftly seek these souls, and enter not without them into 
the presence of the I<ord. — GosSNER. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 155 



THE BIBLE AND AFRICA. 
Rev. Brown, A. M., S. T. B. 

"Give me the book," said a dying- author and scholar, to 
his son-in-law. 

"What book?" was asked. 

"Why, there is but one book — that is the Bible," was the 
grave but ready response. 

This is true. The planet on which we live, regardless 
of the barriers of seas and mountains, must be saved 
by heeding the message of the Bible. The only reason 
Africa needs and must have the Bible is because it can 
not be saved without it. The African, bearing in him 
the ruined image of his Creator, can only have that image 
restored to its former state of true holiness, as he adopts 
and follows the directions given in the Bible. The 
splendid lights of civilization go out and become entirely 
extinguished in the mighty sweep of time; the proudest 
works of genius must decay ; the most refined taste leads 
its possessor to a grave of luxury and a bed of ease 
where he is wooed and slain by the monster, Selfishness. 
Human culture, however varied and profound, unless 
led by the Bible, ends in misery. Civilization lightens 
the eye, trains the heart to marvelous cunning, but can 
not turn the heart fixedly to God and heaven. 

Africa, once the vanguard of civilization, has fallen 
in the rear, like Peter following Christ afar off. Her 



156 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

greatest needs are the Bible— the Book of peace— to 
sheathe the swords that have been drenching her valleys 
with seas of blood, and filling her air with the shrieks of 
the dead and dying. The clouds of superstition that rest 
upon the continent and darken the minds of her sons 
must be dispelled by the sun of righteousness which the 
Bible alone introduces; there is none other name under 
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. 

The Bible is pre-eminently the book for Africa, be- 
ing the only means of salvation from sin and the effects 
of sin, for while other books and systems of philosophy 
give rules for the regulation of external conduct and the 
training of the fallen nature toward human perfection, 
the Bible introduces to man the person and means, not 
only of changing the course of his life, but of changing 
the nature and character of his being, from total de- 
pravity to perfect holiness. It shows how to become a 
new creature in Christ Jesus. It is the only Book that 
has God for its author; w r hose words and doctrine are 
infallible, whose standard of right, whether applied to 
God and man's relations, or man and man's, is absolutely 
right, towering above the ethics of men and other books 
as the tallest peak on earth does above its lowest valley. 
It stirs into life the noblest impulses of the soul, keeps 
the animal propensities in proper subjection, chains the 
vaulting ambition that would overleap itself and con- 
verts it into zeal for other's good and pity for their woes. 
it lifts the burden from the bowed backs, wipes the tears 
of sorrow from the eye and turns the eye of the heart 
from dwelling on self to a rapt vision of "the Star of 
Bethlehem." 

The lamented predecessor of our faithful Brother 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 157 

Jordan, Dr. L. M. Luke, seized the problem of foreign 
mission by its throat and touched it at its vital point, 
when he would make his audiences repeat after him 
Bomans 10 :14, 15 : ' ' How shall they call on him in whom 
they have not believed? and how shall they believe in 
him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they 
hear without a preacher ? and how shall they preach ex- 
cept they be sent ? ' ' " and how shall they be sent without 
the money ?" The latter clause is Dr. Luke's own ad- 
dition. Who, that has been led by him to repeat this 
passage of Scripture, can forget the surprise and start- 
ling effect produced upon his mind by the sudden and 
explosive "and how can they be sent without the 
money ? ' ' 

This is the only need now. There are consecrated 
men and women standing on America's shore, longing 
to go to Ethiopia's cry and place a Bible in her out- 
stretched hand, but they are chained to this country for 
the want of money. There are steam and sailing packets 
ready to bear the already printed Bibles to Africa, but 
there is no money to buy the books or pay the freight. 

The need of Africa may be reduced to "the Book" 
and the man — the plan of salvation and some one to ex- 
plain it. 

Though the eunuch reads, some Phillip must guide 
him into understanding. The isles of the sea, the moun- 
tain-guarded coasts of India and walled empire of China 
alike await the coming of the man with "the Book." 

I once heard a returned missionary tell the story of 
a single Bible, left in a benighted heathen land. Years 
rolled on and no one returned to explain "the Book, ' ' but 



158 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

it was read and passed from village to village and from 
home to home. Some delighted in it for its simplicity 
of language, some for the vastness of its plans, some for 
the sweet poetry of its lines, some for its account of the 
beginning of all things, but all were charmed and awed 
by the life of Jesus Christ. 

It was read till its leaves could remain together no 
longer, when the Book was divided among those who by 
an agreed choice of lots, received certain books of "the 
Book." Finally the colporteur, who chanced to leave 
"the Book" many years ago, returned. He was at once 
recognized as "the man with the Book." He was asked 
to explain first one and then another portion of "the 
Book." Opportunity made him a preacher and settling 
among that people whom the one Book had prepared for 
the preacher, he became the agent of God, leading the 
entire community to the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
and setting up a church Avhich is among the most pros- 
perous mission stations to-day upon the face of the earth. 
O, for more Bibles, silently to work the w T ork of Him 
that sent them into a dark world to a crooked and per- 
verse generation ! Give Africa the Bible and she will 
arise and shine, for in it her light will have come. 

The history of nations whose influence is permanent 
making for righteousness, shows that those nations and 
peoples who exalt and believe the Bible are the leading 
nations and peoples, both in temporal things and those 
subtle spiritual forces that are at the foundation of in- 
dividual and national character. 

The ever widening genius of W. E. Gladstone as a 
statesman Avas due more to his reverence and deep study 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 159 

of the Bible than to his study of Greek literature and 
his modeling after the great master statesman of the 
past. The Bible is the simplest, yet profoundest, of 
books; the child's charm and the philosopher's puzzle; 
the most severely just and the haven of mercy • the stern 
and dreadful thunders of Sinai are silenced by the quiet 
tragedy of Calvary. Nothing like it is found among the 
sons of men. Like the Being whom it pictures as man's 
Saviour it is God-man and has a personality as pro- 
nounced and real as the being who is its author. 

What is our duty to Africa respecting the Bible, these 
things being true? Like Joseph, who found him?elf 
elevated to Pharaoh's throne by the providence of God 
to save souls, and, upon finding his brethren, father and 
relatives alive,butsuffering in Canaan for food by res son 
of the famine on all the world, filled their sacks with corn 
and hastened them home to save life ; so we, in this coun- 
try, standing before the King's filled barns, should 
hasten to send the bread of life to our brethren, fathers 
and relatives who are starving and dying in Africa by 
reason of the spiritual famine upon that vast continent. 
Joseph did not rest till he had every one of his kindred 
living in the land of plenty with himself, so we should 
not rest until the last son of Africa has been brought into 
the land of light and salvation with us, though there be 
an ocean rolling between us. 

The imperative need of Africa is the Bible, and the 
imperative duty of her descendents in this civilized land 
is to send it. 



160 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



HOW THE MATERIAL GROWTH OF BAPTISTS 

SHOULD AND WILL AFFECT THE RACE 

IN AMERICA AND AFRICA. 

R. D. BAPTIST, D. D. 

The Christian religion is the exponent of the highest 
civilization, the highest moral and social condition of the 
race to-day. Where it has been accepted, and its faith 
and doctrines incorporated into the life and character 
of any people, it has in a very potential manner affected 
the moral, intellectual and social condition of such 
people. 

It is the standard bearer of the most perfect right- 
eousness attainable by man. Its Founder taught his 
disciples, " Except your righteousness exceed the right- 
eousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no 
case enter into the Kingdom of heaven/' No people or 
race is excluded from its all-embracing provisions, nor 
from its divinely uplifting power when it is embraced. 
It should produce in the race in America,, or in Africa, 
worthy examples of its power to save and elevate in pro- 
portion to individual or race conformity to its spirit and 
precepts. Its light shone early in the soul of one of 
the race when the Ethiopian eunuch accepted it through 
the preaching of Philip the evangelist, and "believed 



UP THE Ti ADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 161 

that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He asked Bap- 
tism and was immersed by Philip, ' ' and when they were 
come up out of the water the eunuch went on his way re- 
joicing. ". The large number of the race in America who 
are Baptists is a living evidence of the readiness with 
which the race has accepted the Gospel and conformed 
to its doctrines and ordinances as did the eunuch of the 
race in the apostolic period of planting and training of 
Christian churches. A larger percentum of the race 
in America are members of evangelical Churches than 
of any other race in the land; and a large number of 
them are members of Baptist churches than of all other 
evangelical bodies. National Statistican for 1900 gives 
the number of the race members of Baptist churches in 
this country as 1,854,600. To this number must be 
added members of Baptist churches in the States not 
enumerated in the reports, which make a total of about 
2,000,000. To this must be added the members of 
various other evangelical bodies in this country and we 
have a grand total of about 3,123,000 Negro Christians 
in the United States. 

These should be a power as a missionary force for 
the evangelization of the world. They should, by their 
numerical strength, give to the race a distinctive charac- 
ter in active and effective missionary work among Chris- 
tian evangelizing workers. The aggressive character of 
those workers who went out from the churches at Jeru- 
salem and Antioch for the conversion of the world to 
Christ was marked by the strong opposition they aroused 
from jealous, unbelieving Jews and stolid heathen dev- 
otees, and were stigmatized as " These that have turned 



162 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

the world upside down/' To drink in the same spirit 
and follow their example should produce like results 
of success in the same work. The world will look for 
results, and the great Head of the Church will hold the 
large number of Baptists responsible, in all work of the 
gospel, in proportion to their numbers, other things be- 
ing considered. Some of the things to be considered 
are, the " talents" given, and culture, and right training 
in the use of the talents intrusted, including the re- 
sources vouchedsafed as visible means of accomplishing 
the work Christ has given them to do. But in these 
things, as necessary accompaniments for efficiency, the 
responsibility of individual study is involved that they 
may be approved of God, workmen that need not be 
ashamed. This large number of Christian workers of 
the race owe it to Christ, who has called them into His 
service, to the world in which they live, the field in 
which Christ instructs them work, and to Africa in par- 
ticular, "The rock from which they have been hewn," 
the original home of the race, whose benighted millions 
still grope in darkest heathenism, outraged and neg- 
lected, to individually measure up to the fullest possi- 
bility of resources and effort in the work of human re- 
redemption. A great work remains to be done for the 
race in this and other lands, and every Baptist should 
therefore be intensely a missionary Baptist. The com- 
mand is "lift up your eyes and look on the fields, they 
are white already to harvest." And again, "go work 
to-day in my vineyard." Africa is a vast continent, 
peopled by mixed races, but the Ethiopic is the most 
extensive. 



UP, THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 163 

A writer says: "This extensive race comprehends by 
far the greater number of African nations, extending 
over the whole of Middle and South Africa except the 
southernmost projection towards the Cape of Good 
Hope. In religion, Christianity is professed in Abys- 
sinia, and in Egypt by the Cops, but its doctrines are 
little understood and obeyed. Mohammedanism pre- 
vails in all Northern Africa, except Abyssinia, as far 
as a line passing through the Soudan, to the confluence 
of the Quorra and Beune, and thence east generally fol- 
lowing the tenth parallel of north latitude to the Nile 
below the junction of the Ghazal; thence southeast, 
leaving the coast-land in the Mohammedan region to 
Cape Delgado. " Heathen tribes extend southward over 
the continent described from the line above to the 
southern extremity of the colonies. Over this vast 
area the human mind is surrendered to superstitions 
of infinite number and character. The Christian 
religion was introduced into Abyssinia in the first 
centuries after Christ ; but whatever its condition might 
have been in former times, it now presents a degraded 
•mixture of Christian dogmas and rites, and Jewish 
observances and heathen superstition. Of Judaism, 
which was once so powerful, but feeble traces are ex- 
istent, while the Mohammedan religion is visibly on the 
increase." Does the Gospel retain its original power? 
Does it hold out to the church of Christ to-day the 
promise and potency for the accomplishment of the 
design of her risen Lord, the world-wide evangelization 
and civilization of the nations of the earth? Baptists 
proclaim their belief that it does. They hold forth 



164 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

upon this banner prominently this faith, the evangeli- 
zation of the world by the preaching of a pure Gospel. 
They endeavor to marshal their forces under the com- 
mand of their great Captain, "Go ye therefore and 
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching 
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded 
you : and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of 
the world." The progress of the evangelization and 
improvement of the race in America under Gospel 
preaching and Christian civilization, become self-evi- 
dent facts to the large number of Baptists, confirma- 
tory of their faith, that the promise of Christ holds 
good to His church to-day; and, where the conditions 
of His commands are complied with, the Gospel is 
manifestly the power of God unto salvation. 

When the spirit of missions had all but died out of 
the church, and formality and spiritual inertia per- 
vaded Christendom; when Baptists had endured for 
centuries sufferings from bitter and relentless perse- 
cutions, it was this very "sect everywhere spoken 
against, ' ' that the God of missions chose as his agency to 
revive again the spirit of missions and awaken his 
churches to organized, systematic efforts to give the Gos- 
pel to the heathen. 

In October, 1792, in the humble cottage of the 
Widow Wall is at Kettering, England, twelve Baptist 
ministers met and formed the pioneer English "Society 
for Propagating the Gospel among the heathen." "At- 
tempting great things for God and expecting great 
things from God," they laid on the altar thirteen 



UP THE LADER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 165 

pounds two shillings and sixpence (equal in American 
currency to $65.62), as their first offering for missions, 
covenanting together to undertake to spread the Gospel 
among the heathen. Dr. Pierson of the Presbyterian 
Church had said of that event : "That bugle call of 
William Carey has rallied all Christendom. God has 
opened the two-leaved, gates until the last of the her- 
mit nations unbars the doors of exclusion, and welcomes 
to her ports the messenger of Christ." In the sailing 
of William Carey himself for India in 1793, he became 
the first missionary to the heathen from England. In 
1900 was published the following "Summary of Prot- 
estant Foreign Missions:" Principal stations, 5,233;. 
out-stations, 25,586 ; missionaries, 13,607 ; native helpers, 
73,615 ; communicants, 1,289,298, and these contributed 
$1,833,981 to their work. The statistics of 1890 shows 
that Great Britain had 534 stations and out-stations, 
141 missionaries, 1,007 native helpers, 50,032 communi- 
cants, and raised for the work that year $426,410. 

Reports for 1900 show the following American Bap- 
tist statistics in heathen lands, including our own 
workers in East, West, South Africa and South Amer- 
ica: Churches, 965; preachers, 12,104; baptisms, 7,641; 
Sunday school scholars, 36,876 ; members, 108,712 ; con- 
tributions, $90,893. 

Adding to the above summary the number of Bap- 
tist missions among normal Christian nations with their 
985 churches, 1,213 preachers, 5,280 baptisms, 101,534 
members, we have a grand total of 1,950 churches, 13,- 
317 preachers, 12,921 baptisms, 210,246 members, Sun- 
day schools scholars 114,677; contributions, $493,393. 



166 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

These expressive and impressive statistics show partially 
what results have grown out of the initiative work of 
the twelve Baptist ministers at Kettering, England, 
under the inspiring leadership of William Carey in 1792. 
The Colored Baptists of the United States have a 
creditable historic record in pioneer work in modern 
missions. They had their Carey, whose work should be 
an inspiration to the multiplied thousands of his race 
who have embraced the same faith. Historic authority 
informs us that Lot Carey, a member of the Baptist 
church at Richmond, Va., was a slave, purchased his 
freedom, was educated, organized one of the earliest 
foreign mission societies in America, raised money for 
foreign missions, and in 1821 sailed as a missionary for 
Africa. In 1823 he baptized six natives into the church 
he founded the year before. George Lisle, a slave, was 
converted and joined a Baptist church in South Caro- 
lina, and was licensed to preach. In 1777, during the 
Revolution, he preached in Georgia, where the first 
Colored Baptist Church in the United States was or- 
ganized. In 1783 he w T ent to Jamaica, W. I., organized 
a church with four members, and in seven years had 
baptized five hundred believers. In 1793 he built the 
first dissenting chapel in Jamaica. "Baptist mission- 
ary work was begun there by black men from America. ' r 
"When the English Baptist missionaries arrived at 
Jamaica, in 1814, they found that Christian black men 
from America had already been preaching the gospel 
there, and found a people prepared to hail them in their 
coming. ' ' 

With so creditable a beginning, what should the large 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 16? 

number of Colored Baptists of the present clay do for 
the race in Africa? Seeing "that a hundred open 
doors, great and effectual, God has set before them," 
they should be more prompt to enter to help work out 
the salvation of the race in America and Africa and 
the isles of the sea by the redeeming and uplifting 
power of the Gospel of Christ. Faith in God, faith in 
the promise of Christ to His disciples, "Lo, I am with 
you alway, even unto the end of the world;" faith in 
their own mission to "go preach the Gospel to every 
creature;" with a consecration that lays the best gift 
upon the altar of service, and a wise and prudent hus- 
bandry of the resources God places at their command, 
the Gospel will prove, in their hands, as it has in other 
hands, "the power of God unto salvation." 



168 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



AFRICA WAITING. 



REV. C. S. MORRIS. 



If there is a continent on the face of the earth that 
needs the Gospel of Jesus Christ more, if possible, than 
any other, that continent is Africa. It has been more 
cruelly neglected. Sixty generations of its people have 
perished in rayless paganism. Africa's darkest mil- 
lions have not yet begun their forward march out of 
centuries of midnight darkness. There are regions 
large as all Europe packed with fifty million souls 
without one single missionary. 

"They are waiting in the wild, 
Sick and weary and defiled; 
And the Saviour's liealing word 
They have never, never heard. 
Ever hungry and unfed, 
L<eft without the living bread, 
Waiting, waiting." 

Africa has been more deeply wronged. Northern 
Africa gave to Christianity its first Latin Bible, pro- 
duced Athenasius (who stood against the world contend- 
ing for the Deity of our Lord), Tertullian, Cyprian, 
Augustine and Ambrose. At one time there were 500 
Bishops in North Africa, but the ruthless invasion of 
the Vandals put thousands of Christians to the sword 
and scattered the remainder to the four corners of the 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 169 

earth. Then came the red deluge of Mohammedanism, 
rolling like a bloody sea over that fair region, completing 
the work of annihilating the last vestiges of Christianity, 
and Africa's doom was sealed. 

Then came slavery, "the heart disease of Africa. " 
Vasco de Gama discovered West Africa about the same 
time that Columbus discovered America, and Africa was 
sacrificed for America. Europe and America inaugu- 
rated the most gigantic crime of the Christian era against 
her. Unnumbered millions of her children were slain in 
slave raids, other millions perished in the horrors of the 
"middle passage;" sometimes 700 would be stowed away 
on board one ship. Only sixty years ago 250,000. were 
being exported every year by Christian States. Now 
that Christian nations have driven the slave trade from 
the Atlantic, Arabian slavery, like an eating cancer is 
gnawing at Africa's vitals from the East. There are 
fifty million slaves in Africa- to-day, a million of whom 
perish miserably every year. But let trans- African 
travelers speak for themselves. Cameron tells of 
"bleached skulls by the roadside, skeletons of human 
bodies attached to poles." Stanley adds, "My eyes 
catch sight of the continued lifting of the hand to ease 
the neck in the collar. Many have been months fettered, 
their bones stand out in bold relief in the skin which 
hangs in wrinkles and puckers." Livingstone quietly 
remarks: "It is wearisome to see the skulls and bones 
scattered about everywhere; one would fain not notice 
them but they are so striking as one trudges along the 
sultry path that it can not be avoided." 



170 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

Then came the civilized rum traffic, hell's master- 
piece of damnation, that has turned the whole ocean 
front into one long bar-room, at which tivo million 
frenzied savages drop dead every year of delirium tre- 
mens. Bum is deadly in the temperate regions, it is 
rank poison in the tropics. It is depopulating Africa. 
Bishop Flicking claims that to reckon the ravages of 
rum at twice those of Arabian slavery, is to state the 
case weakly. Joseph Thompson led three expeditions 
to Africa. "I had," he confessed, "traveled and suf- 
fered, inspired by the idea that I was doing good in 
opening up new lands to commerce and civilization, but 
all the satisfaction was blighted as I felt that what little 
I had done had better be left undone, and Africa better 
remain a dark continent if such must be the sad end of 
it all. Underneath the cry for gin, I seemed to hear the 
reproach, "You see what Christians have made us; you 
speak of peace and good will, yet yon put devils into us." 

In the eighteenth century Europe stole the African 
from Africa; in the nineteenth, she is stealing Africa 
from the African. The unhallowed spirit of civilized 
greed for aggrandizement at the African's expense is 
not yet sated. The slave raiding of other days is to give 
place to the second magnificently unscrupulous con- 
spiracy that is to partition Africa and plunder the 
African of the bounds of his habitation which God has 
determined beforehand, and thus deprive two hundred 
million people of there birthright; to seize upon their 
property Imd permanently drain the wealth of Africa 
and the African's labor into European channels, leaving 
her like a sucked orange, like a rifled treasure house— 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 171 

her keepers slain, her treasures stolen, the marauders 
gone. 

What an awful many-sided charge the vast cloud of 
African witnesses will have against the civilized world 
on the day of judgment. A continent turned into a 
slave pen, a rum shop, great open running ulcers on 
either breast. Robbed of her children, rifled of her 
treasures, fettered in soul, manacled in mind, enslaved 
in body — Africa lies prostrate before the rapine and 
avarice of the world. Civilized nations found in Africa 
the most prodigious mass of savage humanity, of degra- 
dation bordering on the bestial to be seen on .the earth. 
They have sunk her to a deeper damnation, twofold more 
the child of darkness than she was before. The unclean 
spirit of heathenism has returned with seven other 
spirits from the civilized world more wicked than 
itself, and the last state of Africa is worse than the first. 
Beaten, robbed, half dead, she has lain for centuries on 
the highway of history, while the civilized world passes 
~by on the other side. Africa is on her hack weltering in 
her own Hood; the witch-doctor holds one arm, the other 
is in the red grip of Mohammed, while the slave traffic 
and the rum traffic, like two gigantic vultures, tear at 
her vitals. There she stretches to the ocean, a continent 
in ruins, one vast graveyard of everything divine in 
man. There are her people, one of the great branches 
of the human family, going to pieces, physically, men- 
tally morally, spiritually, a ivorld of ignored, forgotten, 
submerged, abandoned humanity, literally rotting before 
the eye of thirteen million American Christians who own 
thirten billion dollars worth of property and they do not 
give one-tenth of one penny a head to save them! 



172 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

"Was the Master trifling when He said, "There shall 
be more rejoicing among the angels of God over one lost 
sheep than over ninety and nine that are safely housed ? ' ' 
Here are sheep, many millions of them — and lost, and 
oio one will go after them. Coins with the divine image 
stamped upon them, that no one ivill even light a candle 
to search for. The prodigal out there in that far-off 
country, feeding on husks, while there is bread enough 
and to spare, not saying, "I will arise and go to my 
Father, and say I have sinned, ' ' for he does not know he 
has a father, but the elder brother knows. He knows 
his Father yearns to have the prodigal come back; he 
knows that the eldest brother has expressly commanded 
him to go and tell him, but the elder brother refuses to 
go or to send. Yet he says he loves the Father with all 
his heart, and his brother as himself. 

We believe there are many who are ashamed to con- 
tinue to call Him Lord, and not do the things which He 
says. We believe if He stood here to-day with that 
pallid and majestic face, wet with the sweat drops of 
Gethsemane, torn with His diadem of agony, as He 
looked at Africa's whitening harvest field, rotting for 
lack of reapers, surely He would send us forth to that 
mined continent, whose people stand there in waiting 
restless millions with outstretched hands, still, still in 
outer darkness, unsought by any missionary, they have 
heard no glad tidings, they are without hope in the 
world, and His parting blessing would be, "Inasmuch as 
as ye do it unto the least of these my brethren, ye 
do it unto Me." 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 173 

The Son has given His life. Shall the Church con- 
tinue to give one-tenth of one cent for each unreached 
soul in Africa? An English officer estimated that a 
proclamation of the Queen put into the hands of the 
army and navy of Britain could be carried to every per- 
son on the globe in nineteen months. The Church of 
Christ has been entrusted with the great commission of 
the King of Kings. She has men by the millions and 
money by the billions. Yet nineteen centuries have gone 
over her head and there are whole continents that have 
not heard it. Some say, "I don't believe in foreign mis- 
sions;" some/ ' there is plenty to do at home;" some/ 'we 
have more now on hand than we can do." Jesus says, 
"Go ye into all the world, preach the gospel to every 
creature," and in the Judgment, when the Son of Man 
shall sit upon the throne of His glory and behold the 
unreached millions for whom He died^ to whom He sent 
a message of pardon they never heard, will He not turn 
to His recreant disciples whom He entrusted with the 
message and say, "I made you My stewards and you 
took My wealth and clothed yourselves in purple and 
fine linen; you fared sumptuously every day while I was 
hungry in India, and ye gave Me no bread; thirsty in 
China, and ye gave Me no drink; sick and in prison in 
Africa, and ye visited Me not/' "Inasmuch as ye did it 
not unto the least of these my brethren, ye did it not 
unto Me." "We have not done our duty to Africa, as 
will be seen by a comparison of what American 
societies spend in Asia and Africa respectively, but 
if, in addition to her claim on account of her numbers we 
should, in the spirit of the repentant Zacheus, restore 



174 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

unto Africa four fold that which we have taken by false 
accusation, what a noble atonement we might make in 
sending missionaries for the slaves that were taken and 
Bibles for the rum which America is dumping on her 
shores by the million gallons annually. Your money or 
your life is a terribly true expression of spiritual con- 
ditions. Your money is the concrete representative of 
your love, your gratitude, your obedience. God grant 
that there may come to all who read this a new vision of 
the whitening fields, a profounder sense of personal duty 
and warmer touch of the Saviour's sympathy. God 
grant that all may do something; that some may give 
grandly to this grand need, and that none may imitate 
those servants "who with one consent began to make 
excuse. ' ' 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 175 



THE VOICE OF GOD IN AFRICAN MISSIONS. 

REV. J. E. FORD, B. D. 

Has God spoken definitely concerning- Africa? Con- 
sult the pages of Holy "Writ. "Praises shall come out 
of Egypt; Ethopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto 
God.''— Psalms 68:31. "Behold Philistia, and Tyre, 
with Ethiopia; this man (Converts) was born there." — 
Psalms 87 :4. ' c In that time shall the present be brought 
unto the Lord of Hosts of a people scattered and peeled, 
and from a people terrible from their beginning hither- 
to; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose 
lands the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of 
the Lord of Hosts, the Mount Zion. " — Isaiah 18:7. 
"Thus saith the Lord, the labor of Egypt, and the mer- 
chandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, 
shall come over unto thee ? and they shall be thine" (the 
Church)— Isaiah 45:14. "From beyond the rivers of 
Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughters of my dis- 
persed, shall bring mine offering. "— Zeph. 3:10. "Go 
ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every 
creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved." — Mark 16:15. "And hath made of one blood 
all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the 
earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, 
and the bounds of their habitations, that they should 



176 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and 
find him, though he be not far from every one of us."—- 
Acts 17 :26, 27. 

Has God's voice been heard and obeyed in making 
all the earth, not a portion of it, his footstool ? Consult 
the pages of Negro Baptist history. Ask those nine men 
of faith and conviction, men of dauntless courage and 
Negro blood, who, between the years of 1782 and 1834, 
responded to God 's call in Africa 's behalf. 

Has Africa heard and heeded God's messengers? 
Ask the thousands of men, women and children who 
embraced the gospel of Christ and have gone home to 
rest. Ask the other thousands who have renounced their 
heathen Gods, quit the walks of war, hunt and carnage, 
and find peace and life in the gospel preached by mis- 
sionaries of their own people. 

The rise and progress of the gospel in Africa is one 
of the crowning monuments of Negro enterprise. The 
half century between 1782 and 1834 forms one of the 
most thrilling chapters of church extension and mission- 
ary achievements since the days of the apostle Paul* 
Previous to 1865 the history of Negro Christian enter- 
prise in this country was so closely interwoven with that 
of white Christians, that, in order to obtain definite 
statistics or information, one must be personally ac- 
quainted with the actors of that history, or search most 
diligently for the word Negro or colored in order to dis- 
criminate. In most cases, whatever was done by the 
Negro that reflected credit, the term indicating Negro 
was left out. Because of this and the fact that before 
1865 the Negro, especially in the Southern States, and 




Dinizulu and his uncle, Zulu Warriors. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 177 

in a great many of the Northern States, was not per- 
mitted to obtain the advantages of education, and as a 
consequence he could not mark the history of his prog- 
ress at home or abroad, either by pen or printing press ; 
but that now that the institution of slavery has perished, 
the school doors opened, and men of intellectual train- 
ing have gone forth with ability to investigate original 
and statistical documents and compile chronological data 
and facts, and weave them into historical narrative, we 
are soon to have a new chapter of missionary history, 
a chapter as interesting in subject-matter, inspiring in 
biography, and as thrilling in faith, heroism and unre- 
quited toil, as any chapter since New Testament times. 
Rev. W. H. Brooks, D. D., a brilliant scholar and able 
Negro divine, of Washington, D. C, has discovered in 
the archives of the National Capital, where for many 
years have lain buried — like ancient manuscripts in old 
world centers — the historical records of Negro mission- 
ary reports and data, that will bring Negro Baptists 
to the front as pioneer bearers of the Cross of Christ to 
foreign fields. Not only was the Negro first to bear the 
cross of the suffering Christ on the way to the crucifixion 
at Calvary, but he was also first to bear from Christian 
America the cross of the conquering Christ to his own 
brethren in benighted Africa. While England was yet 
adjusting herself to the changes produced by the Refor- 
mation ; when America was just concluding the war of the 
Revolution and ratifying the Declaration of Independ- 
ence ; when the National Assembly of France was assum- 
ing sovereign power and the monarchy was preparing to 
become a republic, the Negro Baptists of America, a 



178 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

hundred years in advance of Lincoln's Emancipation 
Proclamation, were carrying the gospel of Immannel, 
the Prince of Peace, to Africa. Thus it will be seen 
that, while in the house of bondage at home, colored 
Baptists were seeking the deliverance of their kinsmen 
abroad. 

Negro Baptist missions divide themselves into two 
epochs; the first, lasting a half century, began in 1782 
and lasted till 1834; the second, beginning in 1880 and 
continuing to the present time. During the first epoch, 
at least nine ordained elders, not counting helpers and 
assistants, went out to foreign fields. During the 
second epoch, twenty-five have gone forth from this side 
of the Atlantic under Negro Baptist leadership. At the 
outset not only was the voice of God commanding, but 
the hand of God directing. Providential guiding may 
be clearly heard and discerned in a study of African 
missions. It is not only a striking fact that men of 
African descent should be the first to seek Africa's re- 
demption, but a more profound reality, that their work 
should abide and increase, a circumstance that seems to . 
indicate God's purpose that the Negro is to work out his 
own salvation in this benighted land. 

DIVISIONS OF THE EPOCHS. 

I. "The history of the first epoch of Negro Baptist 
Missions began with labor in the West Indies, on the 
island of Jamaica, as early as 1873, and was prosecuted 
so vigorously and with such marked success that when 
in 1813 the English Baptist Foreign Mission Society 
commenced work in that part of the world they found 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 179 

already in existence large churches of Baptists made up 
of native converts. Among those who contributed much 
to the success of these labors were Revs. George Lisle, 
Moses Baker, George Givens and others. The labors of 
Hev. Amos in the Bahama Islands of the West Indies 
group were also effectual in soul winning. Before 1790 
this Negro Baptist, who left America at the close of the 
Revolutionary War, had succeeded in establishing at 
New Providence a Baptist church of his own people, con- 
sisting of not less than three hundred members.' ' 

To know how far-reaching one man's work may be, 
when ordained of God, we have only to look at the fruit 
of Rev. George Lisle on this side of the Atlantic. Before 
leaving Savannah, Ga., for Jamaica, Rev. Lisle baptized 
Andrew Bryant, who in turn was ordained to the min- 
istry, and in 1788 founded the First Baptist Church, of 
Savannah, Ga. Pastor Bryant endured great suffering 
for Christ's sake and died in 1812, but the church has 
lived on until it is now more than 113 years old, with 
5,000 members, conducting twelve Sunday schools and 
several missions, while nearly a score of other churches 
have been organized from its ranks. Rev. Lisle was thus 
both a home and foreign missionary. 

" A second company of Negro Baptists from America 
carried the gospel of Jesus to Sierra Leone, on the West 
Coast of Africa, in 1790. The leading spirit in this[ 
movement was Rev. David George, who, in company with 
Rev. Sampson Colbert, Hector Peters, John Williams, 
John Ramsey and a few other devout men of the race, 
Southern born, but emancipated by the accidents of the 
Revolutionary war, sailed from Nova Scotia more than a 



180 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

century ago, to find a permanent home and to labor for 
Christ in Africa. 

"As soon as Rev. David George reached Free Town, 
Africa, he planted on the shores of his fatherland a 
Baptist Church. Indeed, these Baptists were among 
the founders of the colony/' — (Brooks). 

These pioneer fathers were two years ahead of the 
formation of the Particular Baptist Missionary Society, 
organized in England, October, .1792,. at which time 
William Carey, the father of modern foreign missions, 
declared his readiness to embark for any part of the 
world, and a quarter of a century in advance of the 
General Baptist Missionary Society, established in 1816. 
If our white Baptist brethren have this consecrated cob- 
bler who first carried the gospel to the dark-skinned 
races of India to inspire them to loyal service in behalf 
of the unsaved millions of India ; if Dr. Clarke, the 
father of the Christian Endeavor Society, who recently 
returned from Carey's field of labor in India, to inspire 
interest in foreign missions, great audiences at Carnegie 
Music Hall, New York, and the great Christian Endeavor 
Convention at San Francisco, with the identical hammer 
used by William Carey while performing his duties at 
the shoemaker bench, how much more have Negro Bap- 
tists of America occasion to be proud and be loyal to 
God, and to foreign missions, for having had Carey's 
namesake — Lot Carey — a poor tobacco packer, of Rich- 
mond, Va., who, like his London predecessor, carried the 
Gospel to his dark-skinned brethren in Africa. A brief 
sketch of this wonderful man will show that God, who 
is no respector of persons, hath raised up among men. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 181 

this people whose lives and names are destined to stand 
with such unselfish devotion that a graphic and vivid 
delineation of their faith, energy, courage, zeal and 
skill will be an inspiration for all generations, white or 
black, that follow. 

Lot Carey, born a slave in 1780, began life as a poor 
tobacco packer in Richmond, Va. At the age of twenty- 
seven years he was converted in the gallery of a white 
Baptist church, where he heard a sermon from the third 
chapter of the Gospel of John. So impressed was he 
with the story of Nicodemus that he determined to 
acquire an education that he might read the Scriptures 
for himself. A prudent man, he made and saved the 
money with which to purchase his own freedom. Having 
heard a report from a party returned from an African 
exploration trip, he astonished his friends by announc- 
ing his purpose to go to that country as a missionary. 
His employer and former master offered to raise his sal- 
ary $200 a year, but to no purpose ; he had consecrated 
himself to the Lord's work, and, accepting appointment 
as missionary of the ' ' Triennial Convention, ' ' he set sail 
with Colin Teage, a warm-hearted friend and com- 
panion, January 23, 1820, for Africa, just twenty-seven 
years later than "William Carey and his companion had 
sailed for India. For many months after reaching 
Africa, Lot Carey labored as a mechanic, was afterward 
appointed physician to the settlers, a position the duties 
of which the careful study of the climate and diseases 
since his arrival enabled him to perform. He was also 
appointed vice regent of the colony and worked with 
untiring skill in the government, evangelization and 



182 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

education of the natives. After eight years of constant 
service, Lot Carey passed away, leaving many to mourn 
Iris loss, besides bequeathing a rich legacy to Negro Bap- 
tists for all times. With this brief survey of a half cen- 
tury of missionary effort we must close this epoch. But 
what a glorious beginning ! What grand lessons ! Here 
were men who, though chained with the shackles of 
slavery in the land of their birth, could yet see something 
to do for their brethren across the continent ; who, while 
free in body, were chained in superstition, ignorance 
and sin. These men, George Lisle, Rev. Amos, Lot Carey 
and those accompanying them, have laid our foundation 
for African mission work, upon w T hich we are erecting a 
superstructure. Born before this century began, these 
men are pioneers in missionary undertaking. Their 
names are not only imbedded in the annals of their own 
time and country, but when the future history of Africa 
is written they will also be found solidly wedged in 
Africa's foundations and glory. What an inspiration 
for Negro Baptists to-day. What a clear indication of 
the voice of God seeking Africa's redemption through 
her own sons and daughters. 

SECOND EPOCH. 

II. The second epoch of Negro Baptist Missions 
begins with the formation of African Mission Conven- 
tions of the United States. With the exception of the 
New England Convention, these conventions did not 
begin active work until after the close of the Civil War. 
From 1834 to 1860, African mission work was prac- 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 183 

tically suspended. The reason for this is clear. The 
barbarities of American slavery became more and more 
unbearable; the rapacity and greed of task masters — 
like Pharaoh in Egypt — were not to be satisfied. The 
Negro, to worship God at home, must steal away to the 
jungles and woods, or get permit and pass from master 
and overseer. He could no longer help his brother in 
Africa ; he could not help himself at home ; but the time 
of his delivery was at hand. The Emancipation found 
him without home, school or church. These properties 
must first be acquired before he could begin work abroad. 
It is surprising how soon they were amassed, and now a 
second time the voice of God is heard in the Macedonian 
cry, "Come over and help us," and the answer is given 
by men and women laying, ' ' Here I am ; send me, send 
me." The call was so distinct that, though no articulate 
voice was heard, a blown trumpet could not more cer- 
tainly prove a reality than that God was summoning 
these devout men and women to definite service in 
Africa. Negro Baptists in the last twenty-five years 
have been so deeply impressed with the call that three 
Baptist Missionary Conventions have been organized to 
meet the demand. A brief history of these conventions 
will show their loyal response to God's call and Africa's 
need. 

CONVENTIONS. 

I. The Neiv England Missionary Convention. 

Baptists began work in New England States early 
in the last century. In Boston, Joy Street Baptist 
Church was organized in 1805 ; the Abyssinian Church, 



184 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

New York, 1809, and African Baptist or Cherry Street 
Church, in Philadelphia, in the same year. From these 
mother churches branches grew and spread in Pennsyl- 
vania, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, 
and in 1840 the mother churches and their children came 
together and formed a convention for the evangelization, 
education and general welf are of the Negro at home and 
abroad. This convention is still in existence under the 
above title, and meets annually in different New Eng- 
land States. 

WESTERN STATES AND TERRITORY CONVENTION. 

II. Tlie African Mission Convention of "Western 
States and Territories was next in order. It comprised 
States bordering on the Mississippi River north of the 
Ohio, and all of the Territories, many of which have 
since become States. Its name was afterward changed 
to the African Mission Convention of North America. 
In 1885 this convention, through the generous assistance 
procured by Rev. Thomas L. Johnson, their authorized 
financial agent in Great Britain, purchased outfits, medi- 
cal and general, and paid transportation to the Congo 
Free State, AVest Central Africa, of Rev. Theophilus E. 
S. Scholes, as medical missionary, and Brother John E. 
Ricketts as mechanic and missionary, their purpose 
being to establish missions and schools in Africa. In 
1^90 this convention paid the transportation of Mrs. 
Join E. Ricketts to join her husband on the Congo. In 
1891-2, Rev. R. L. Stewart and Sister Virginia Jones 
were given outfits bv this convention and sent to estab- 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 185 

lish missions in the interior and outlying districts among 
tribes in the Liberian Republic, "West Africa, which have 
met with more or less success. 

FOREIGN MISSION CONVENTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

III. The third and larger body is the Foreign Mis- 
sion Convention of the United States. This convention 
was organized in 1880, at Montgomery, Ala. Two years 
later this convention sent out six missionaries — Rev. and 
Mrs. W. "W. Colley, Rev. and Mrs. J. H. Presley, Rev. 
J. J. Coles and Rev. H. McKinney, who were to take a 
two years' course of preparation in Liberia College for 
active service on the field. Three stations and two out- 
stations were established in the Vey Territory of AVest 
Central Africa. Houses were built, schools established, 
a library collected and a church formed, into whose 
fellowship a number of souls were baptized. 

In 1893 representatives from the convention of 
Western States and Territories and New England Con- 
vention met with the Foreign Mission Convention of 
the United States, at Washington, D. C, with a view of 
consolidating and concentrating mission work. A tenta- 
tive union was effected, and the sentiment on this occa- 
sion was beautifully expressed by the president of the 
body in the following language: "For the first time in 
the history of our work the whole Negro Baptist family 
of America are converging to the point of universal 
unity to take Africa for Christ." Co-operation was 
the watchword of the convention. Missionaries were 
delegated to Baptists in Exuma and other Bahama 



186 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

Islands to secure co-operation of all forces, home and 
abroad, for Africa 's redemption, but on the reassembling 
of the convention in 1894 the fond scheme was found to 
be impossible. Several constitutional restrictions stood 
in the way of "The Tripartite Union/' as the three 
bodies proposing consolidation were called. Two years 
later these restrictions were removed from two of th'3 
bodies by amendments to their constitutions, and a uni- 
fication was effected at St. Louis in 1896, when the Afri- 
can Mission Convention of North America, of which 
Rev. J. F. Thomas, Chicago, was president, turned over 
all territory, properties, schools, churches, stations, out- 
fits and supplies, to the Foreign Mission Convention of 
the United States. Boston was then named as the next 
meeting place of the convention in 1897, with a view of 
bringing the New England Convention permanently into 
the consolidation. From now r on it is proposed that the 
15,567 Afro-American Baptist Churches in America, 
with their 1,855,324 members and 14,675 ordained min- 
isters will do all mission work through their Foreign 
Mission Board, located at Louisville, Ky. 

RECAPITULATION. AFRICA. 

(a) What has been the effect of this century of mis- 
sionary effort upon Africa? 

1. The people of that land have come into contact 
with the life, manners and methods of their educated 
and Christian brethren from America. 

2. They have been taught to read, write and follow 
industrial pursuits. The seed planted by Kev. George 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 187 

Lisle and Lot Carey have produced, if not a hundred 
fold, at least some forty, and some sixty. Wandering 
tribes have been localized and taught useful arts and 
trades; mediation between hostile tribes effected and an 
elevating influence exerted in the social status of women 
and children. 

HOME. 

(b) What has been the effect of African missionary 
enterprise upon our denomination in this country? 

1. It has produced a growing missionary spirit in 
our institutions at home. * 

2. It has been a trumpet call for missionary knowl- 
edge and zeal in our churches. It was in response to 
this call for missionaries that the scattered and inde- 
pendent elements of our churches 'have been gathered 
together and welded together into a strong denomi- 
national body and missionary departments. 

BENEFIT TO FUTURE GENERATIONS. 

The benefit of this long and honorable history of 
missionary endeavor will be of untold benefit to the 
rising generations. The impression widely prevails that 
Negro Baptist Missions are in their infancy. The 
churches to-day are strangely ignorant of the attitude 
and labors of our Baptist fathers in the last century and 
a quarter, and the abundant and fruitful labors of the 
precursors of Rev. R. A. Jackson and wife, Rev. R. L. 
Stewart, wife and daughter. Rev. J. I. Buchanan and 
wife. Rev. E. B. P. Koti and wife, Rev. John Chilembwe 



188 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN" MISSIONS. 

and L. N. Cheek, present missionaries on the field, 
Kev. George F. A. Johns and wife, and Rev. John 
Tule and Rev. George M. Thomas and wife, 
several of whom have "fallen asleep" since the prepa- 
ration of this article. In these crowded, hurrying 
times, peojjle pay little attention to crowded details, but 
the present brief epitome will do much in awakening 
interest in the consecrated Baptist vanguard who opened 
the way in dark Africa and answered the voice of God 
by making possible the present volume. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 189 



THE GENERAL AGENT, OR THE TOPMOST 
NEED IN MISSIONS. 

Rev. C. L. Fisher, D. D. 

In the arrangement of things it pleased God to place 
every system of labor and every department of industry 
under a trained management. In mechanics, agriculture, 
university work, it is one and the same thing. There 
must be a contractor, overseer, dean. This order of 
things is not without precedent. In the sharing of their 
work as pertains to humanity, every person of the 
Trinity became manager of a certain department. God 
the Father became the Creator and Preserver of mankind 
and executor of the law; God the Son, the Redeemer 
and Saviour; God the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, the 
Sanctifier and Guide. While all three of these persons 
have been active in their several spheres throughout 
time, yet in certain periods, one has revealed himself to 
the human understanding more clearly than the others, 
as being specially busy in his own chosen line. The 
Father made himself more prominent in his work during 
the days of the patriarchs, priests and prophets, the 
period from creation to the birth of Christ; the Son, 
during the period of the Incarnation from the Advent 
to the Ascension; the Holy Ghost, from Pentecost to the 



190 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

Second Coming of Christ, which period includes our day. 

This, then, is the age of the Holy Spirit. In His 
work of comforting, sanctifying, guiding or teaching, 
He carries on the work of redeeming, justifying, savings 
begun by Jesus Christ. 

But before the*Lord ascended He had collected about 
him a few who believed and were justified from all 
things, and who formed a nucleus of His church, which, 
the Holy Spirit formally organized on the day of Pen- 
tecost. To this little band of believers as representatives 
of the church of all ages, Christ gave a sacred charge 
before he went to his Father. The consideration of. this, 
charge brings us to study : 

I. The Church and Missions. 

1. The church is the founder of missions. The risen 
Lord gave her the sacred charge. It was to her he said : 
" Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them 
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost : Teaching them to observe all things what- 
soever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you 
alway, even unto the end of the world. " Before this 
charge was given, there were no missionary movements, 
as such, except what were conducted by the Master him- 
self. After this charge missionary endeavors became 
more general and took on a more definite shape. The 
three thousand believers emerging from Jerusalem after 
Pentecost, telling the good news; Paul, Barnabas and 
Mark, going from Antioch commissioned by the church r 
are instances of the immediate efforts of the followers of 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 191 

the meek and lowly Lamb to obey the commandments 
of their ascended Lord. 

2. The church was not only the founder of missions, 
hut is the promoter of them. The church at Antioch 
felt herself responsible for the missionaries whom she 
sent out. " And when they had fasted and prayed and 
laid their hands on them, they sent them away." The 
responsibility was so grave, that they were unwilling to 
bear it alone. They sought divine sanction and succor. 
While the church felt responsible for the missionaries, 
the missionaries in return felt responsible to the church. 
For when they had finished their first missionary tour, 
they returned to Antioch whence they started, and made 
a report of their work. "And when they were come, 
and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all 
that God had done with them, and how he had opened 
the door of faith to the Gentiles. ' ' And thus has it ever 
heen where missions have been conducted after the 
divine model. The church has always been and always 
will be responsible for the work of missions. The associ- 
ations, conventions and conferences are only agencies 
whereby the church manipulates her plans, systemizes 
her labor, and utilizes her forces. The church that has 
no missionary spirit, is one whose candle has ceased to 
give light. How necessary then that the churches 
throughout this broad land should awake to the sense of 
their duty and to the discharge of it ! If the burden of 
missions is upon the church, upon whom is the burden 
of the church ? This question brings us to consider : 



192 UP THE LADDER IX FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

II. THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE CHURCH. 

The Holy Spirit, as coming clown to fill the place of 
the ascended Redeemer, has rightly been called the Vicar 
of Christ. To Him the entire administration of the 
church has been committed until the Lord shall return 
in glory. In the Holy Spirit, Christ dwells with the 
church on earth. "I will not leave you orphans, I will 
come to you." He is to be the Comforter and General 
Manager of the church in all things.— John 14:26. 

1. He is director of the worship of the church. 

Preaching, in order to be effective, must be under 
His supervision. Peter, referring to the prophets, said : 
"Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, 
but unto us they did minister the things which are now 
reported unto you by them which have preached the 
gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent dow T n from 
heaven; which things angels desire to look into." — 
1 Peter 1:12. 

Paul affirms his speech was not with enticing words 
of man's wisdom but in demonstration of .the spirit and 
poiver. — I. Cor. 2:4. The conviction of Paul and Peter 
on this subject is the conviction of the men of God to- 
day. If there is any difference between the Christian 
minister and the secular orator; if there is any dis- 
tinction between the sermon and a mere literary pro- 
duction, it is this: the Spirit of God controls the one 
and not the other, illuminates and quickens one and not 
the other. 

The praying, too, should be under the Spirit's direc- 
tion. The Apostle Paul closes the enumeration of the 



w 



O 

•-t 



O 

3 




UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 193 

pieces of Christian armor with, these words : - ' Praying 
always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, 
and watching thereunto with all perseverance and sup- 
plication for all saints."— Eph. 6:18. The same writer, 
in the Epistle to the Romans, again called attention in 
still more striking language to the part the Holy Spirit 
is to take in our praying. "Likewise the Spirit also 
helpeth our infirmities : for we know not what we should 
pray for as we ought : but the Spirit itself maketh inter- 
cession for us with groanings which can not be uttered. ' 9 
—Rom. 8 :26. 

Prayers read from manuscript or spoken from mem- 
ory are at variance with the teaching of the Scripture, 
as there is no opportunity given for the Holy Spirit to 
pray his part in the petition. To pray rightly is the 
highest of all attainment, said the sainted Golden. And 
he spoke a truth that is hidden from the average minds, 
but a truth that is deeply spiritual, and therefore dis- 
cernible only by the spiritually minded. 

The singing also should be under the spiritual lead- 
ing. He is heaven's great chorister. He never makes a 
discord nor varies a thirty-second note in his time. Bee- 
thoven, with all other famous musicians, can not equal 
him. Indeed, all truly great leaders in music, especially 
sacred music, caught their inspiration from him. And 
if the singers will be lead by him, he will train them 
faithfully, and lead them up into a personal realization 
of the highest object of Christian music— the glory of 
God. But the intruction is: "Be filled with the Spirit; 
speaking to yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual 
songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the 



194 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

Lord."— Eph. 5:18,19. "And again, let the Word of 
Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and 
admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and 
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the 
Lord." — Cor. 3:16. If we were to subject our choirs 
to the test herein defined, it would exclude from their 
number all unconverted persons and professors who are 
worldly-minded, and who do not give evidence of being 
led by the Spirit in all the walks of life. Thus Avith 
Spirit-filled preachers and singers and prayers, it is not 
hard to determine what sort of worship the churches 
would render unto God. 

But the Holy Spirit is not only the director of the 
worship of the church, but also the overseer of its work. 
The work of the church may be included under two 
captions : Christian Education and Christian Missions. 
The latter is the end to which the former is the means. 
In order to succeed in the work of missions, the church 
must carry on the work of Christian education. 

• Now, since missions are a part of the work of the 
church, and since the Holy Spirit is the overseer and 
general manager of all the work of the church, it fol- 
lows that the Holy Spirit is the general agent of mis- 
sions. Let us therefore consider : 

III. THE HOLY SPIRIT AND MISSIONS. 

The agency of the Holy Spirit in mission is seen. 

1. In the selection of the missionaries, Paul and 
Barnabas were set apart by the church at Antioch only; 
after receiving instruction from the Spirit. "The Holy 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 195 

Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Paul for the work 
whereunto I have called them."— Act 13:12. How was 
the will of the Spirit obtained? Through ministering 
unto the Lord and fasting. Consider now our obliga- 
tion. Are there missionaries to be sent to the foreign 
field? Did the Spirit make choice of them? Have we 
through fasting and prayer ascertained his will. Are 
they men of God, spirit-filled and spirit-led ; and capable 
of holding a charge anywhere in this country? These 
questions ought to be faithfully and conscientiously con- 
sidered, remembering that foreign fields must not be 
made the drifting ground for the refuse of the home 
fields, if Ave expect the best results. 

The agency of the Holy Spirit also seen : 

2. In sending them out. So they being sent forth 
by the Holy Ghost (Acts 13:14), is the testimony of 
Scripture. He not only selected them, but sent them 
forth. And as with the choosing, so with the sending. 
It was done after the church had fasted and prayed 
(vs. 2) . Here is a lesson by example to be learned : Are 
there missionaries here to be sent forth? What more 
appropriate than this great convention assembled in a 
consecration meeting to give the missionaries to God, 
for His sending, and His keeping, and His returning 
them to us in His time and according to His will. Such 
a meeting conducted in the spirit would be divinely 
blessed and conducive of great good. 

The Holy Spirit's agency may be further seen: 

3. In the choice of the field. When Paul and Silas 
had traveled throughout Phrygia and Galatia, they de- 
sired to go to Asia, but the Holy Ghost forbade them. 



196 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

When they had come to Mysia they attempted to go to 
Bithynia, "but the Spirit suffered them not. "— Acts 
16:6, 7. In a vision Paul was directed to Macedonia 
instead. Thus we see clearly that the choice of the field 
was not left to the missionaries nor to the church at 
Antioch ; but he who made choice of them for the work> 
and sent them forth, also chose their field of labor. Why 
may not this be true now? Is there any reason Avhy it 
should not be? Is there any less cause that it should 
be ? Can not the same Spirit who directed us in choosing 
the missionary and commissioning him, direct us also in 
selecting his field? Do not limit his power or question 
Iris prerogative, nor let us encroach upon his authority 
by the abuse of our liberty. 

Remember that the Holy Spirit is the general agent 
in missions ; that his official capacity is not circumscribed 
to any particular line of missionary endeavor, but 
extends over it all, touching it at every point. 

Hence, it is not enough that the Spirit chooses the 
missionary, sends him forth, selects his field, but that he 
abides with him on the field. 

4. To give power to the word of his ambassador. 

Power is needed not only in public proclamations of 
the gospel before assemblies of the people, but also in 
private and personal denunciations of sin. The boldness 
of Paul's speech and the power of his words used in 
denouncing Elymas, the sorcerer, was due to the fact 
that he was filled with the Holy Ghost.— Acts 13: 9. 
In foreign fields men of similar character will be met by 
the missionary. He will come in contact with the native 
doctor, the enchanter and necromancer. And while it 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 197 

may not be the divine will that he smite them with blind- 
ness, yet he needs the Holy Spirit to teach him how to 
deal with them, and make his words impressive so as to 
have the desired effect. 

But it is important to note further that the Holy 
Spirit is needed on the field: 

5. To support the missionary in persecution. Per- 
secutions are sure to come. And persecutions he must 
have, if he would share in the glory into which his prede- 
cessors have already entered. "What is the history of 
Christ, the founder of the church and of missions ? He 
was rejected, pursued, stoned and crucified. And of 
Paul, the greatest missionary among men of all ages? 
He was scorned in the market place, imprisoned, stoned 
and finally executed at the block. 

Persecution is not a thing of the past. He who has 
read the recent experiences of missionaries in China is 
forcibly reminded of the truth of this statement. Some 
of the missionaries remained on the scene of their dread- 
ful oppression to encourage and strengthen their con- 
verts, while others fled to more* peaceable if not healthier 
climes, crying as they went, "One woe is past, and, 
behold, there come two woes more hereafter." What is 
true of China is true in some degree at least of all other 
fields. Persecution of some kind will at some time con- 
front you. In counting up the cost of engaging in mis- 
sionary work, the candidate should not fail to consider 
persecution. But with the Holy Ghost as his bodyguard 
persecution will not daunt or conquer him until his mis- 
sion shall have been completed. 

But, finally, the Holy Spirit is needed to direct: 



198 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

6. In deliberating upon difficult questions that con- 
front the workers in foreign fields. This is true at home, 
where all the consecrated brain of religious leaders may 
unite in a concensus of opinion. Doubly is it true 
abroad, where the missionary stands alone, but for the 
one or two associates who perchance may be fellow- 
laborers with him. But if these few will seek diligently 
the mind of the Spirit, they will not err in their plans. 
And in accounting for their actions to the Board at home, 
they can join with the Apostles of old and say with 
authority, "For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and 
to us. "—Acts 15:28. 

Now in the light of what has been said, what seems 
to you to be the topmost need in mission w r ork? Is it 
not to give the Holy Spirit his place in the management 
of the affairs of the church ? . "We read of Christ that 
"the stone which the builders rejected, the same is be- 
come the head of the corner. ' ' — Luke 20 :17. The 
truthfulness of those words will be realized as applied 
to the Holy Spirit before the mission work of the church 
will even be approximate in both effectiveness and ex- 
tensi ven ess to that of the apostolic fathers. But the 
day is coming. The men are being prepared and so are 
the fields. Consecrated men who believe fully in the 
Spirit 's work in the Church annually are emerging from 
our colleges and seminaries to share in the great work of 
evangelizing the world. 

The heathen countries which have been closed to the 
light of Gospel truth are now Open, either voluntarily or 
by force, to the onward march of Christian civilization. 
Like a mighty army with rushing speed and resistless 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 199 

force, that batters down the walls of every city whose 
gates are locked against it, it conquers every foe that 
does not submit to its power. Christian civilization has 
demanded and obtained entrance at the gates of con- 
servative China, has traveled the sw r amps and jungles 
of superstitious Africa, and now challenges Papacy to 
a contest for every step of the ground in Cuba and in 
the Philippine Islands. 

Brethren, let the Holy Spirit be enthroned in the 
church. Let- him occupy his own Holy See. In the 
Roman Catholic Church the Pope has taken it from him. 
Therefore that church cannot stand. But the church 
that enthrones the Spirit shall conquer kingdoms 
and subdue their kings, bring down empires and humble 
their emperors; shall vanquish every power that has not 
enlisted under the banner of Emanuel, and shall stand 
forever as the sole possessor of the spoils of the conflict* 



200 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



EXTRACT FROM ANNUAL ADDRESS 1899, 

REV. K. C. MORRIS, D. D. 
President National Baptist Convention. 

Again, by permission of a kind Providence, I have 
the honor of coming before you to deliver my annual 
address as president of your great convention. I con- 
gratulate you upon the wonderful record and unparal- 
leled progress made by the Baptists since the organiza- 
tion of this convention. It came into existence at the 
right time and for the very purposes it has so ably 
served, viz : to save this wing of our great and invincible 
denomination from disgrace, to show that in the onward 
movement of the great army of God in the world, Negro 
Baptists are a potent factor. Until thrown into a sep- 
arate organization, such as this, it was not known what 
part those of our race in Baptist churches bear in the 
mighty conquest against the kingdom of darkness and 
in the upbuilding of the Master's kingdom on earth. 

The wisdom which dictated such an organization was, 
in my opinion, divine. Had it not been divine, the 
strong and well-organized forces which have conspired to 
overthrow every enterprise put on foot by this con- 
vention would have succeeded. But I am glad to say 
that instead of being 'overthrown, the convention and its 
enterprises are stronger to-day than at any time before, 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 201 

and it has, by its peerless record, drawn to it many who 
once stood in open rebellion against its objects. It has 
been my opinion for some time that the leaders in this 
convention have been for many years misunderstood, and 
therefore misrepresented, and that when the real objects 
and policy of the leaders are fully known, all opposition 
will cease, and we will have the encouragement and co- 
operation of all the great Baptist societies in the country. 
I wish to repeat what I have said on several occa- 
sions : that this society entertains no ill will tow T ard any 
other Christian organization in the world. It seeks to 
be on friendly terms with all, and the charge that this 
organization means to draw the color line, and thereby 
create prejudice in " Negro" Christians against * 'white" 
Christians, is without foundation. We admit, however, 
that practically, and not constitutionally, the color line 
has been drawn by the establishment of churches and 
schools for the "colored people," and the employment 
of missionaries, colporters, etc., to the colored people, 
which has resulted in the organization of associations 
and conventions by the Negroes in more than half of the 
States in the Union. And since these organizations 
exist, it is the duty of all to do everything in their power 
to build up the cause of Christ in and through these 
agencies. Our apology for the existence of a National 
Baptist Convention is because, owing to the agitation of 
the slavery question, the white Baptists of the North and 
South had divided into two societies, represented re- 
spectively by Northern Baptists and Southern Baptists, 
and when the cause of the division had been removed, 
the Northern Baptists went immediately to work to 



202 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

educate and evangelize the emancipated. The Southern 
white people soon fell in line and began by a system of 
taxation to aid the emancipated in acquiring a common 
school education, and many of the Southern white min- 
isters lent their aid in church work. But their organi- 
zations remained separate and are separate to-day. 
Hence, it was one of the prime objects of the promoters 
of this convention to obliterate all sectional lines among 
Bapitsts and have one grand, national society which 
would know no North, no South, no East, no West ; and 
in this we have been successful. From Maine to Cali- 
fornia we are one, notwithstanding the efforts of design- 
ing men to disrupt the convention by making false publi- 
cations concerning it. If you will pardon the particular 
reference, I will say that one of our number, who for 
three years held official position in this conventon, had 
published in a little paper out in North Carolina the 
startling statement that the "Convention has departed 
from the New Testament standard and has turned into 
an ecclesiastical body; and that it exists for political 
purposes, the president exercising his powers the year 
around, attempting to dictate the policy for 1,700,000 
Baptists." Others of our rank have styled us ingrates. 
But against all we have marched steadily on and dis- 
proved all that has been said, until we have enlisted the 
co-operation of the most thoughtful Negro Baptists 
throughout the civilized world. We have endeavored to 
avoid any entangling alliances with other Baptist organi- 
zations, but have prayed for and sought to maintain 
friendly relations with all. I can not account for the 
apparent disposition of some of our Baptist societies to 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS 203 

ignore utterly the existence of the National Baptist 
Convention. Since the Negro Baptists in all the States 
of this great Union are in harmony with the work of 
this convention and are contributors to its objects, there 
can be no good reason why any organization should 
attempt to form alliances with the respective States to 
do the very work which the convention is endeavoring to 
do. In the matter of Cuban missions, notwithstanding 
the fact that this convention had declared its purpose to 
do mission work in Cuba, other Baptist societies, which 
had a similar purpose in view, consulted and even had 
correspondence with persons not officially connected with 
the National Convention upon the matter of co-operation. 
This breach of fraternal courtesy is not understood, 
except it be that others think that they can more easily 
handle our people by having them divided, than by 
recognizing an organization with an official board or 
boards, empowered by the Constitution to act for the 
whole body. That the time will come when all the Bap- 
tist societies in America will recognize the existence of 
this society, I have not the slightest doubt; but for 
reasons known only to themselves, they have not done 
so yet. 

A prominent minister of our denomination told me a 
few weeks ago, at Greenville, Miss., that he had opposed 
the work of the National Baptist Convention because he 
did not think it possible to get the Negro Baptists of 
this country organized, and that their notions of church 
independence and church sovereignty were such as to 
preclude any such thing as a national organization. 
"But," said he, "I see you are about to get them 
together." 



204 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

The all-important question of the hour is that of For- 
eign Missions. The Foreign Mission Society is the oldest 
of our national organizations and has a greater claim 
upon our people than any other, for it indeed represents 
the spirit and mission of the Master, as well as his 
Church. No man can be true to Christ and refuse to 
support the cause of missions. And yet, I am sorry to 
say, that many of our churches have turned a deaf ear 
to the urgent appeals of the board for means to support 
our missionaries, and have really joined in with our 
enemies to deride the board when it failed to pay the 
salaries promptly. 

While there has not been as much adverse criticism 
during the present year as the past, there has been some, 
Our Baptist papers have been more considerate of the 
"board's responsibilities, and have not permitted so many 
things which are intended to impede the progress of the 
foreign mission work to find circulation through them. 

It has been difficult for the board to keep in harmony 
with some of the workers in South Africa. A new 
impetus must be given to this department of our work. 
"We can no longer hope to retain the confidence and 
respect of other people of the world unless we do more 
for the redemption of the heathen, and especially those 
of our fatherland. If it should appear that "we are a 
little selfish in our missionary operations, we can offer 
the just apology that the heathen of Africa are by far 
the most neglected of any on the globe— less money is 
being given for their evangelization than for any others* 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 205 

This convention Avill not rise to the full dignity of a 

great missionary organization until it has at least fifty 
active workers on the field. 



206 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



SERMONS. 



I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is 
the power of God unto salvation to every one thai 
believeth; to the Jem) first t and also to the Greek. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 207 



SENT BY CHRIST. 

REV. W. T. DIXON. 

"Then said Jesus to them again, Peace he unto you; 
as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." — 
John 20:21. 

(a) Its benediction — Peace on you; nosuccess with- 
out peace in the one family church. 

(b) The place where He met His disciples (verse 
19). Hence, where two or three are gathered together 
in my name am I in the midst of them. 

(c) The divine power given to those who are sent 
j( verse 22). Jesus began his mission only after being 
baptized and imbued with the Holy Spirit. The 
Apostles were commanded and waited at Jerusalem for 
the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 

Success only attends those who are thus prepared 
for this great work, 



208 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



MISSIONS, THE DESIGN OF CHRISTIANITY. 

"For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, 
that He might destroy the works of the devil." — 
John 3 :8. 

J. H. HOKE, D. D. 

Satan was designed to destroy the works of God, 
Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. 
Hence "the Christian war. 

1. Angels acknowledged His birth. 

2. He proved His authority by His miracles. 

3. He demonstrated His claims by rising from the 
dead. 

4. He signified the ultimate victory by commission- 
ing His followers to "Go preach the gospel to every 
creature. "—Mark 16:15, 16. He pledged His presence 
while they work.— Matt, 28:18,20. 



«ft*r. 



m 



' •■.'•■•■ ■■■■- 




Native Boy in Africa. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 209 



CHRIST CRUCIFIED, THE MAGNETIC AT- 
TRACTION OF THE WORLD. 

Rev. C. T. Walker, D, D. 

And I, if I he lifted up from the earth, will draw all men 
unto me.— John 12:32. 

Introduction. 

Christ crucified is the center of the Gospel. It is the 
salvation of a lost world. It gives life and vitality to all 
the doctrines and ordinances of the Gospel. Its magnetic 
attraction must lift up a lost world to heaven and to 
God. Like the sun, the center of the solar system, the 
Cross is the center of the scheme of redemption. Calvary 
forms a high observatory upon which every Christian 
can erect his studio, and in his revolving chair of faith 
look back to Eden, and then look forward through the 
dim vista of time to the final consummation of all, 
things. 

The lifting up of the serpent in the wilderness was but 
a type of Christ being lifted up upon the cross: the peo- 
ple who were bitten by the fiery serpent looked on the 
brazen serpent' upon the pole and were healed ; so man- 



210 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

kind, diseased by sin, may look to Christ by faith and 
be healed of the malady of sin. 

Christ not only had reference to His crucifixion irt 
this declaration, but he foretold his elevation by the 
Gospel after His death, His burial, His resurrection, and 
His ascension. The Gospel was to be His message of 
peace to a lost world, the power of which was to be salva- 
tion to every one that believed. 

The cross is the ensign of religion— its mighty stand- 
ard, and the doctrines of the Cross bear witness to Christ. 
The crucifixion of Christ is the main pillar that upholds 
and supports the whole fabric of the Christian religion. 
Men were attracted by the Cross perspectively four 
thousand years, and for nearly two thousand years they 
have had a retrospective view. It attracts as nothing 
else can, it draws as nothing else will draw. 

''In the cross of Christ I glory; 

Towering" o'er the wrecks of time, 
All the light of sacred story 
Gathers round His head sublime." 

I. The Cross Stands as the Bible's Monument 
oe Truth. 

1. The whole Bible points to the Cross. 
Sacrifices under the old dispensation had reference 
to the crucifixion of Christ ; the slaying of the lamb and 
the staining of the lintel of the door post in Egypt with 
blood to preserve the inmates of Jewish households, was 
typical of the slaying of the Lamb of God, whose blood 
would cleanse from all sins and would secure believers 
from the eternal wrath of God. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 211 

The whole Bible bears the mark and the impress of 
Divinity. The Old Testament is the history of a nation, 
the New Testament is the history and life of a man 
divinely sent to save that nation. 

2, The Cross is a great witness for the truth of God. 

Every truth in the Bible leads to the Cross, and the 
Cross carries back to every truth. Justice, mercy, truth, 
peace, righteousness, pardon, justification and holiness 
all harmonize gloriously at the Cross. All of the at- 
tributes of God blend at the Cross in glorious unison, 
without any injury being done to any of the divine per- 
fections. 

3. The Cross was the last revelation of God's will to 

man. 

These revelations were gradual, for four thousand 
years reaching their zenith— gradually coming. 

II. THE DESIGN OF CHRIST BEING LIFTED UP. 

1. It was to effect reconciliation between God and the 

sinner. 

The sinner 's debt was paid by the sinner 's sinless i 
substitute. Christ the just died for the unjust, that he 
might bring us to God. It was to bring reconciliation 
between an offended Sovereign and the disobedient sub- 
ject. As the mediator, Christ was the friend of both 
parties in the controversy, as daysman he went be- 



212 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

tween the two, united the offended and the offender, 
restored what man lost in Eden. 

2. The design of the Cross is to save believers. 

Men can only be saved by believing; and while sal- 
vation is free, men can not enjoy its benefits unless they 
accept its conditions. Christ must be preached to the 
world so that the world may hear of Him and accept 
Him, for " Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the 
word of God." 

III. THE ACCESSIBILITY OF THE CROSS. 

1. Christ is the Saviour of all — Jew, Gentile, 
Greek, etc. 

He will draw all men unto Himself, hence, it is the 
duty of all believers to impress the unsaved with the 
importance of looking to Jesus. The Master said: "Ye 
shall bear witness of me in Jerusalem, in Judea, in 
Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. ' ? The 
marching order was, "Preach the Gospel to every creat- 
ure." 

2. No man is barred from the benefits of the Cross by 
in tellectual qualifications. 

The fool is not excluded, and the intelligent is not 
rejected because of his wisdom, for "God has made fool- 
ish the wisdom of the world, because the world by wis- 
dom knew not God. " 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 213 

IV. THE EXALTATION OF CHRIST IN THE 

GOSPEL WILL MAGNIFY THE CHRISTIAN 

RELIGION. 

1. Christ came to earth to bring a religion that was 

spiritual. 

It did not consist of types and shadows nor ritualistic 
ceremonies. It was a religion that would transform, re- 
new and recreate; it was to have the ascendency over 
evil, a heavenward tendency that was elevating in the 
heart, soul and life. He was to be an outside Saviour 
as well as an inside Saviour. 

2. The Christian religion has Christ for its author. 

It has power in its source, in its principles, and 
power in its influence. It is strong, vigorous and manly. 
It loves everything that God loves, and opposes every- 
thing that is inimical to purity. 

3. The Christian religion is in harmony ivith the Bible. 

The Bible is the Christian's guide, his light, his 

lamp, his sword with which he defends himself, his 

shield to ward off the attacks and the assaults of the 
enemy. 

4. The religion of the Cross is superior to all other re- 
ligions in that it has the witness and the indorse- 
ment of the Holy Spirit, and emanates 

from the Triune Godhead. 



214 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

God the Father saves by His grace, it is His un- 
merited favor to lost sinners ; God the Son saves by His 
life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and inter- 
cession; God the Holy Spirit saves by regeneration, il- 
lumination and sanctification. 

V. TEE EVANGELIZATION OF TEE WORLD 

DEPENDS UPON EARNEST PREACEING 

OF TEE GOSPEL TO ALL NATIONS. 

1. It is the imperative duty of the Church of Jesus 
Christ to give the world the Gospel. 

The Gospel is heaven's remedy for man's malady. 
It is food for the famine sufferers. It is the Jerusalem 
Blade that must cut a highway for our God. It has no 
geographical Knes; it is not confined to nationalities; it 
is greater than law, for it is higher and better law — the 
law condemns and imprisons, the Gospel gives pardon 
and restores liberty; the law kills, the Gospel makes 
alive; the law demands justice, the Gospel reconciles 
mercy. 

2. The Church's wonderful opportunity. 

AYe have entered a century of wonderful opportunity, 
after closing the most significant century of history. 
Railroads, steamboats, telegraph wires, printing presses, 
telephones, cables, public schools, denominational schools, 
missionary enterprises, philanthropists, are all helping 
to disseminate the Word. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 215 

Thorough Christian consecration and constant activ- 
ity should characterize the Church of Jesus Christ dur- 
ing the Twentieth century. Our God is marching 
through ages and centuries. Christ must be in the heart, 
in the home, in the chrueh, Christ in the masses, in the 
law-makers, in the voters. It is the Gospel that must 
present the living Christ to the people; it will make 
men better and cause them to recognize the fatherhood 
of God and universal brotherhood. Men and women 
must let God touch their lives. 

3. There must he individual and collective effort. 

God works through human instrumentality. The 
crying need of the time is for more men and more 
women who love God and who love humanity ; those who 
would put their lives upon God's holy altar to be used 
by Him; men like Moses, like Joshua, like Daniel, like 
Paul, who can exclaim, "I count not my life dear." 
Men like Spurgeon, like Moody. "Women like Dorcas, 
Phoebe and Priscilla. Christ is calling for workers. He 
did not have a gentleman of leisure among His disciples 
in the days of His flesh, He does not need them now. 
"Women of fashion and society are not commended in the 
Bible. Dorcas is referred to because she immortalized 
herself by her needle, and conquered death on her pillow. 
She is noted for good works. Lydia, of Thyatira, was 
a seller of purple, whose heart the Lord opened. 

If we would share in the reward at the end of the 
campaign, we must take part in the conflict. The Lord 
is getting in a hurry to have this world brought to Him, 



216 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

for the cavalry of heaven is led on by our mighty Con- 
qnerer on His white horse of the Gospel, followed by a 
company on white horses, and not a footman in the 
crowd. 

The cross it standeth fast, 

Hallelujah for the cross; 
The winds of hell hath blown, 
The world its hate hath shown, 
Yet it's not overthrown, 

Hallelujah for the cross. 
It's the old cross still, 
Its triumphs let us tell ; 

Hallelujah for the cross. 

There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed, saying, 
Come over into Macedonia, and help us. — Acts 16 :9. 

This is a missionary age. 

The great conferences and conventions which have 
been held recently to discuss missionary subjects so 
characterize it. Christians of all denominations are 
interested as never before in the great mission of the 
church— the salvation of the world, the establishment 
of the Master's kingdom in the hearts of men. It is a 
restoring of the primeval faith. It is a resurrecting of 
the Christ-spirit— '"who went about doing good." It is 
Paul, Silas, Barnabas, Mark, living again in this marvel- 
ous age. 

Who can afford to be indifferent to this great revival 
of missions ? Or who can be so void of Christian aspira- 
tion as not to desire to take a part in this onward march 
of the Church militant. 

The church collectively succeeds in proportion as the 
individuals of whom it is composed become interested 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 217 

and active. From these interested and active workers 
God selects the stars for His missionary constellation— 
His Careys, Livingstones, Judsons, Ashmores— and gives 
them a field and a work. 



218 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



OUR OBLIGATION TO THE HEATHEN. 

REV. MARK THOMPSON, A. M. 

Rom. 1:14, 15: "I am a debtor both to the Greeks 
and to the barbarians; both to the ivise and to the un- 
ivise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach 
the gospel to yon that are at Borne also." 

Introduction. 

In the text, missionary work is set before us as a 
pressing obligation. What stronger term can be used 
to express this thought than that of a debtor? The 
secret of Paul's success as a missionary was a sense of 
indebtedness to those in need of the gospel. 

The most real obligations we have are not those that 
arise from formal contracts. They come from the abil- 
ity one has to help another. It is in this sense that we 
are debtors to the heathen. They are in darkness, we 
can give them light. They are crying out, "Help !" "We 
can render assistance. They are feeling after God; we 
can lead them to God. How great is our responsibility! 

7. Our obligation to Christianize the heathen is the 
greatest of all obligations. 
The sinful world needs Christ infinitely more than 
they need anything else. To know God and Jesus Christ 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 219 

is far more essential than a knowledge of all the arts and 
sciences. What duty is so binding upon one as that of 
saving a soul from death ? Were it in my power to rescue 
a man about to drown, would I not be obligated to save 
his life ? "Would I not be guilty before both God and 
man to let a life be lost I have the power to save? Let 
us not think that we shall be guiltless if we let the 
heathen pass a miserable existence in this life and lose 
also the life eternal. 

"If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn 
unto death, and those that are ready to be slain ; if thou 
sayest, Behold, we knew it not, doth not he that poncler- 
eth the heart consider it? And he that keepeth thy soul, 
doth he not know it ? And shall not he render to every 
man according to his works?"— Prov. 24:11, 12. 

II. The Christian is obligated to sinners of all degree 
of culture. 
This thought is a corollary of the preceding propo- 
sition, yet it needs to be greatly emphasized. The herald 
of the Cross is equally honored whether he delivers the 
Master's message to the most degraded of human beings, 
or to those who have had the best literary advantages. 
Since Christ tasted death for all men none should be 
considered too ignorant to be told the story of the Cross, 
nor should the learning of any be an excuse for passing 
them by. Let every Christian say, ' ' I am a debtor both 
to the wise and to the unwise." 



220 UP THE LADDER IX FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

III. The deepest and most effective of our obligation 

to the heathen is that which regards it as an indi- 
vidual matter. 
There were others besides who were obligated to the 
1 ' Greeks and the barbarians ' ' yet, Paul thought only of 
himself. The greatest obstacle to effective missionary 
work to-day is, that people do not think of their obliga- 
tions individually. Many who talk of what the church 
should do for missions^ and what it has failed to do, 
have never done anything themselves. They have never 
been heard to say, "I have failed to do my duty to 
perishing humanity. 

IV. A deep sense of obligation to the heathen will mani- 

fest itself in efforts to save them. 
Mere pity aroused by the story of their wretched con- 
dition is not feeling a .sense of obligation to the heathen. 
AVhen one feels that he will do something for those in 
darkness though no one else does, he feels his obligation, 
and, under God, will do his duty. It was such a determi- 
nation that enabled Paul to make his wonderful record. 
It was this that stirred Carey and Judson and made 
them blessings to those in heathen darkness. If all who 
profess to love the Redeemer keenly felt their indebted- 
ness to the heathen, the missionary problem would be 
practically solved. There would be multitudes of men 
and millions of money speedily dedicated to the work 
of evangelizing the world. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 221 

V. The present is a most favorable time for liquidating 
our indebtedness to the heathen. 

Many things which in former years made missionary 
work extremely difficult are now removed. Science and 
commerce are bringing nations comparatively close to- 
gether; steam and electricity have facilitated travel, and 
the missionary has the sympathy of those at home. 
He is no longer considered a crank, but a hero and a 
Christian. 

The past century has been one of magnificent prepa- 
ration; the gates of prejudice have been unbarred, dark 
continents have been opened, giving the gospel access 
to at least 800,000,000 souls." There is a marvelous 
contrast between the financial condition of the church 
at present and its financial condition in the first century. 
Then the rich were, as a rule, sinners and enemies of 
Christ. Today the wealth of the world is largely in 
Christian hands. A few years ago the following signifi- 
cant statement was made in the missionary paper called 
The Kingdom: "These are good times to send money 
to help missions. An old hack objection to giving made 
by those who wanted an excuse for not giving was, 'It 
cost too much to get the money out there.' Nowadays, 
the exchange shoe is on the other foot. Your dollar 
grows on the way out. Exchange is in your favor. 
Providence makes your dollar amount to more than a 
third of another dollar, and even more than that." 



222 up the ladder in foreign missions. 

Conclusion. 

Let us not simply admit our obligation to the heathen r 
but realize it. Henceforth let us think of discharging 
an obligation when working for the heathen. Let each 
one think over the claims of the heathen until he can 
heartily resolve "As much as in me is, I am ready 
to send the gospel to the remotest bounds of the earth. ' ' 
Let us seize this opportune time for obeying the great 
commission, "Go ye into all the world and preach the 
gospel to every creature." 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 223 



AUTHORITY FOR MISSIONS AT HOME AND 
ABROAD. 

REV. C. H. PARRISH, D. D. 

Acts 1:8 — "Ye shall .he witnesses unto me hoth in 
Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto 
the uttermost part of the earth." 

Our Master uttered these words under the same cir- 
cumstances as when those more familiar words fell from 
His lips recorded in Mark 16:15— " Go ye into all the 
world, and preach the gospel to every creature." In- 
deed they are a part of the same final discourse. Having 
left these instructions with His disciples and while they 
yet had their eyes fixed on Him, and receiving His bless- 
ing, He was gradually taken up and a cloud received 
Him out of their sight. In those final words He appoints 
the work of all His disciples in all the ages. He defines 
their field of labor, and with authority assures them of 
an ability to go on with it, and of success in it. 

The commission includes not only those who first re- 
ceive it, but their successors, or as He himself prayed. 
4 ' Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which 
shall believe on me through their word." His one in- 
junction to all believers is "Go," "Witness." In the 
believer's heart there is an impulse of love for Christ. 
He readily and gladly recognizes that it is Christ's right 



224 "UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

to command and his to obey. The love of Christ con- 
strains us. When He bids lis witness, indeed we wish 
to witness; indeed we "go." We look danger and 
death in the face and witness anyhow. Necessity is laid 
upon us, and woe be unto us if we preach not the gospel 
to the whole creation. Christ imparts to the true be- 
liever in a measure His own longing to redeem— a com- 
passion like that He felt for a lost and perishing world. 
In obedience to His command, in harmony with His 
methods, we have the assurance of His presence. The 
result of our efforts may not please us; indeed, from 
human view, they may seem downright failures, but the 
reward of obedience is II is presence— "Lo I am with 
you alway;" so the laborer must look for the promised 
presence in preference to anything else. We are prone 
to give too much attention to human results, human re- 
sources and human machinery, and too little attention 
to God's source of power in the redemption of the world. 
We seem to forget that it is ours to plant, and ours to 
water and ours also to leave the increase to God, because 
it is God's. God's plan for mission work is sure to suc- 
ceed ; all others must fail. It is ours to know God 's plan 
and take our place in it; "He always wins who sides 
with God"; "With Him no chance is lost." God's plan 
enjoins all believers, all disciples, to witness for Jesus; 
to tell what they think of Christ. The whole church, 
every member in it, is called of God to work for missions. 
The churches of God have the one chief object— the con- 
quest of the world for Christ. Every soldier is required 
to put on the whole armor of God; to fight the good 
fight of faith, to lay hold on eternal life and endure 







Native Congo boys working the garden. 




Worshiping a god made by their own 
hands. A god that hath ears and hears 
not, eyes and sees not. 




- . 



tMe/serjhac/r ..., ■J:^, 





RICHIE STEWART, Our Little Orphan. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 225 

hardness. It is his bounden duty personally and co- 
operatively to try to get others to enlist as soldiers, and 
to keep in sympathy and in touch with the army. Our 
missionaries wax strong, brave and victorious when they 
become conscious of the good will of an organized host of 
God's anointed. Though striving alone on some far off 
mission field, yet they know they are not alone, but 
serving only as outposts of God's grand army. They 
know that they have not the strength of one only, but 
the strength of a multitude. Their extreme suffering 
is softened w r hen they call to mind that their brethren 
suffer with them; that 



"We share their mutual woes, 
Their mutual burdens bear." 



It is characteristic of the good soldier of Jesus Christ 
to be sensitive of the safety of a comrade; to care for 
one another in the battle of life at great personal risk; 
to sustain and defend by united effort. In reading from 
Acts the first story of Christian missions we find an asso- 
ciation of believers who parted with their worldly posses- 
sions and poured the proceeds into a common fund ac- 
cording to the wants of each and all. Duties and bur- 
dens were shared alike. How simple their methods of 
mission work; an army in action; a common cause; a 
common fund; a child-like faith in the promise of God 
and the power of His word and Spirit. Believing in 
united prayer and heroic obedience, that asks only for 
marching orders, and then dared all obstacles and op- 
posers, moving into the valley of death to "do and die." 



226 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

Dr. Pierson says that with these simple methods 
apostolic activity reached the remotest parts of the 
known world in one generation. 

Missions began with a cottage prayer meeting,* in 
an upper room, with closed doors, at Jerusalem, for 
fear of the Jews. But how like an invading army did 
these early believers, with impassioned earnestness and 
indomitable resolution, witness for Jesus? God grant 
that in the spirit of these early disciples we, too, shall 
be witnesses unto Him in Jerusalem, which represents 
city missions, in all Judea, which represents home mis- 
sions, in Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world., 
or foreigns missions. 

The text further strengthens our faith in missions, 
because it teaches that God has sent all believers, old and 
young, men and women, boys and girls, to evangelize, 
and hath given us His assurance/' Ye shall have power,'* 
"Ye shall be witnesses unto Me," and all the world shall 
feel His transforming influence. 

Baptists are among the earliest promoters of mis- 
sions. Indeed they are the founders of foreign missions. 
The first modern missionaries to the heathen were Bap- 
tists. Joseph Hughes, who conceived the idea of giving 
the Bible to all nations, and who founded, nourished and 
sustained the British and Foreign Bible Society, was 
a Baptist. 

A Baptist deacon divides with Robert Raikes the 
honor of originating the Sunday school movement. 

The earliest translators of the Bible into heathen 
tongues were Baptists, and they have rendered it into 
more tongues than any other people. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 227 

The first Christian churches in India, Burmah and 
China were Baptists churches. 

But all denominations share in this work of witness- 
ing for Jesus. Who can affirm the extent of the good 
done? Neither man nor angel— but God only. 

Missions instrumentally have given health to the 
very heart of Christianity, and caused it to beat with 
its earliest pulsations, and "this gospel of the kingdom 
shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all 
nations; and then shall the end come." It is the duty 
of missions, then, to usher in the everlasting kingdom. 

Believer, your work is missionary ; the world is your 
field. You must witness in person or send a representa- 
tive. Which? 



228 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



OUR SALVATION AND OUR MISSION. 

REV. JOHN J. BLACKSHEAR, A. B. 

"S* 7 e into °M H ie world and preach the Gospel to 
every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall 
be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned"— Mark 
16 :15-16. The laconic comment of the Duke of Welling- 
ton on this text is that " these are the marching orders 
of the church, or Christ's marching orders to the 
church." In these words the disciples of Christ — the 
Church — received the order "forward, march." The 
two sentences are inseparable and bound together as 
the light is bound to the sun. 

The Son of God, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, 
had given His life for the sins of the world — as a ransom 
for many. He had lived the life, finished the work given 
Him to be done by His Father. Indeed he said, ' ' I have 
finished the work which Thou gavest me to do. ' ? Again, 
He said on the cross, "It is finished." He had lived 
that life through and died. The Almighty Father suf- 
fered not the body of the Holy One to see corruption. 
He could not be holden of death and God raised Him 
from the dead on the third day. He had not only been 
victorious over the tempting and ensnaring world, but 
now He returned from the world of the dead as the 
Conqueror of death, hell and the grave. His victorious 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 229 

announcement or exclamation was and is and ever will 
be "All power is given nnto Me in heaven and in earth." 
God had given Him a name— Him "who being in the 
form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with 
God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon 
Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness 
of man, and, being formed in the fashion as a man, He 
humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even 
the death of the cross, Wherefore God also hath highly 
exalted him and given him a name which is above every 
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of 
those in heaven, and in earth and under the earth." 
(Phil. 2:6-10.) 

The possession of all power carries with it all author- 
ity. He declares that by Him, through faith in Him, 
we are saved. The same voice that exclaimed, "He that 
believeth and is baptized shall be saved," also ordered 
"Go ye into all the world." A lack of belief in the one 
is evidence of lack of belief in the other. If one does 
not believe in the "Go ye" neither does he believe in 
the "He that, etc." Both/ were uttered by the same per- 
son at the same time and same occasion. The two are 
inseparable and their unity is just as essential to a real 
Christian life as the unity of soul and body is to the 
natural life. 

Having all power in His hands He had the authority 
also to command— yea, to impose upon us the work of 
spreading His Gospel message "Go ye," etc. He won 
by actual conquest the authority and thereupon exer- 
cised it and ordered his followers Go ye," etc. He saved 
us and commands us. He bought us and He orders us to 



230 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

do. He indeed bought us with a price— invaluable price 
— yea, beyond all human calculation as to value. Value 
involves comparison, and we are too unacquainted with 
eternal things to know of sufficient comparison or 
analogy. He bought us— "Ye are not your own, for ye 
are bought with a price. (1 Cor. 5 :19-20.) If now, there- 
fore, any one consider himself the purchase of Jesus ? 
"blood, the redeemed, the ransomed, the saved, the re- 
generated, the justified, the adopted, the being sanctified, 
to them also and to them alone come the orders from His 
Majesty the King, "Go ye into all the world and preach 
the Gospel to every creature." His own, w T ho look to 
Him for divine keeping hear His words and they will 
obey. Our salvation and our mission are thus so linked 
that only death — spiritual death— a faith without 
works— can separate them. 

"He that believeth" is he that believes in the Incar- 
nate God who lived and spake to man and died for them, 
rose for them, gave orders to them, ascended to heaven 
in their intent, and that He now sits on the right hand 
of the throne in the court of His Majesty, the most high 
and almighty, the Supreme Jehovah, who is all and in 
all. If indeed w r e believe in Him, we must believe Him 
wholly for Christ being God's complete revelation; 
must accept wholly — salvation and missions, too. 

The element of selfishness entering and abiding in the 
labors and profession of so many is really sinful, and 
surely unacceptable to the Holy Spirit. 

Now, last and greatest of all, these words were His 
last words before He left the world. The tender, loving 
Saviour and Friend bade us farewell for a long season, 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 231 

and sent us abroad to tell of his sacrifice for man. His 
wondrous story is an ever-winning one. The Cross is 
an ever-conquering emblem. The shadow of the Cross 
is an ever-refreshing shade. "I am not ashamed/ ' says 
the great apostle to the Gentiles. Ashamed; nay, he 
did no w T rong, committed no deeds to cause a blush ; his 
life was regular, and he never at any time ceased to be 
anything that ever was. He was not narrow; neither 
did he ever have to return from any eccentricities as we 
poor blundering sinners must constantly do. His loving 
command has power over His own after all these years 
of human events. And now the command, mingled with 
love and authority, falls with sweet cadence like music 
upon our hearts, — "Go ye into all the world and preach, 
the Gospel to every creature. " 



232 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE 
SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL. 

Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to 
every creature.— Mark 16:15. 

That there is a very pressing need for the fulfillment 
of this command I wall not tarry to prove, for I presume 
none will deny it. I simply remind you that men every- 
where are lost — How awful! How fearful! "That all 
the saints that are were forfeited once, but he who might 
have best the advantage took ' ' and found out the remedy. 

When no other help was nigh and no other eye to 
pity, God in his super abounding self became the helper 
and healer of our race. He originated and perfected a 
plan of reconciling the world unto himself by the blood 
of his own beloved Son, the only wonder and plan by 
which truth and justice, holiness and mercy, may and 
do harmonize with pity and love in the restoration and 
salvation of lost souls. 

The revelation of this plan is the gospel of the text, 
the good tidings of forgivness and remission of sins. In 
the gospel the Lord God is seeking to win back wayward 
and wandering souls. 

1. In accomplishing this, however, the Lord works 
through human agencies. This is indeed his usual 
method in carrying out his purpose concerning man on 
earth. Along the pathway of flying centuries God has 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 233 

himself at times stood forth for the immediate vindica- 
tion of his sovereignty, and justice occasionally, when 
extraordinary circumstances have demanded that these 
extraordinary means be employed. Angels have been 
sent to earth as his visible ministers of both mercy and 
judgment. 

But usually, and under the present dispensation, God 
uses men and money — human instrumentalities. Ha 
chooses men and makes them fellow helpers to the truth. 
With himself, when we accepted Christ as Prophet, 
Priest and King, and in grateful allegiance vowed, we 
for ourselves accepted this infinite responsibility, and 
thus and then was the beginning of our unspeakable 
trust. 

2. It is well to notice this responsibility. It is 
clearly evident that each individual of those to whom 
this Gospel of Grace was committed first. That by its 
proclamation every creature for which he himself, and 
not that mere abstraction called the church, was respon- 
sible—and responsible to the full extent of his ability. 

Christ selected His embassadors or agents for the 
spread of the gospel, separately and not collectively as a 
church, and he impressed each one with this individual 
responsibility, and thus through the ages he has selected 
their successors. The teachings of Christ ever individu- 
alizes men. Each man stands apart by himself as it 
were from all the world, and each is represented as 
standing on his own foundation, and each to his Master 
standing or falling. 

Along this continuous lane of His own appointed and 
individualized human agency, the Master has worked 



234 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

through all the years now separated, and He will con- 
tinue to work until it is ushered in that glorious dawn. 

The method of our Lord seems to be that He en- 
lightens one soul and intends that soul to enlighten an- 
other, and as long as we are in the body we are co- 
workers together in saving other souls. 

The compass was not constructed to satisfy the 
greedy lust of commerce alone or to guide the wandering 
adventurer. It must guide the mission churches across 
the channels of the deep— until the earth shall be full 
of the knowledge, 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 235 



OUR FINANCIAL PUZZLE. 
W. H. Phillips, D. D. 

I call this "Our Financial Puzzle' ' because we have 
been trying for twenty or more years to do missionary 
work, and while we have done some it is true, yet we 
have fallen miserably short of what we ought to have 
done. 

The main reason for our failure has been the want 
of money. "We have passed hundreds of resolutions, 
made hundreds of attempts to do missionary work, and 
yet we have failed to measure up to the standard of our 
ability. For this reason we have been sadly puzzled 
to find the real cause and a remedy for the same. Our 
object is not to deal with our local church work, but with 
our denominational, educational and missionary work. 

The Needs of the Work. 

Our local church work Ave seem to have in hand 
pretty well, and we can afford to let that rest for the 
time being. The thing that puzzles us most is our mis- 
sionary and educational work. What we are doing along 
this line is good, but, when compared to our numbers 
and our ability, we are doing very little indeed. The 
condition in which the work is, its needs and the manner 
in which we are doing it, shows us to be miserable 
failures so far; but let us not despair. 



236 up the ladder in foreign missions. 

Our Obligations and Responsibilities. 

We are under obligations to which we do not respond. 
"We make pledges which we do not fulfill. AYe say we 
ought to have district, state and general missionaries, 
both home and foreign. We say we ought to have edu- 
cational institutions; that we are able, and that we will 
have them. We pass hundreds of resolutions, put them 
©n paper and have them printed, then we go home and 
resolve to stop, but our responsibility does not stop here. 
The account is still against us ; the debt is still unpaid. 
AYhat shall we answer to the charge ? The apologist has 
had his day, but it is passed and gone. There is no 
use in longer trying to cover up and hide our shameful 
neglect. We are like the ostrich in the desert, who when 
hunted down hides his head in the sand but all else is 
exposed. Our neglected duties are the ghosts 
that will not down, but will continue to haunt us until 
we drive them away by stern duty. The failure 
to give the money is not a lack of the means in our 
possession, but simply the lack of a little self-sacrifice on 
our part. We do not stint ourselves in eating, drinking, 
wearing apparel or our pleasures. According to the 
annual report of the American Baptist Home Mission 
Society for the years 1897 and 1898, page 174, paragraph 
4, the Negroes contributed toward the twenty-six Negro 
Schools (ten of which are under the Society and six- 
teen under exclusive Negro control) the sum of $118- 
032.69, but $97,624.36 was for tuition, board, etc. So 
we see that only $20,408.33 was given from churches and 
individuals that can be properly counted as missionary 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 237 

money. But suppose we make it in round numbers the 
sum of $21,000. According to our numerical strength 
say 1,700,000, that would he but one and a half cents per 
head for a whole year. All the other items of money 
given for missionary purposes, not accounted for and 
never find their way into print, would not amount to 
more than this sum. So if we double the amount and 
" make it $42,000, it would only be three cents per year 
for each member given for missions and education. 

Where Is the Eemedy ? 

The best guide we have for the present and the 
future is the history of the past. As iron sharpeneth 
iron, let us rub up against others. If comparisons, like 
adjectives, are sometimes odious, they are also, at times, 
useful and can be made to serve a good purpose. What 
others have done and are doing, we can and must do if 
we expect to succeed. In the matter of giving to our 
missionary and educational enterprises we lack a motive 
power. Is it because we have no line of promotion for 
service that throws us behind our Methodist brethren in 
this matter of giving? True, there are no higher 
positions within our gift than that given us by Christ, 
and yet the motive power, the two propelling forces, in 
this work ought to be love and duty. Our service to 
God need not be rewarded by man and so whether we are 
man-made bishop, or simply a minister of the Gospel, or 
New Testament Bishop, let us rise to the dignity of our 
office and discharge our duty like men. 

Since I am not afraid of comparisons, I beg to have 



238 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

you examine with me the work clone by our Methodist 
brethren, and I am sure Ave will stir up one another with 
a little Godly jealousy. 

They outstrip us in missionary giving because they 
have a motive power which we have not, and of which 
we have already spoken. For missionary and educa- 
tional purposes they raise more money than we do by 
far. I have taken the pains to gather a few facts and 
figures from three prominent Pedo-Baptist churches in 
Philadelphia. One gave for the last conference year, 
dollar money, $700; mission money, $160; Chil- 
dren's Day money, $100; education, $60; total, 
$1,020. Another gave, dollar money, $400; educa- 
tion, $100; missions, $150; total, $650; and the 
third gave for all of the above-named objects $223. 
In the same city— Philadelphia, Pa.— we have eight Bap- 
tist churches, which will compare favorably with either 
one or all of the Pedo-Baptist churches here mentioned, 
and several of the eight will outrank them. I do not 
know of but a single one of the eight Baptist churches 
that has given in one year $223 for educational, 
benevolent, and missionary purposes. Our wealth is not 
a whit behind theirs. Our people do the same kind of 
work, and get the same wages. We live in just as good 
houses. We dress just as well. AA T e are just as well edu- 
cated. Our circumstances are just as good in every 
particular. They do not excel us in building fine 
churches. We take care of our pastors just as well. In 
all of these local affairs we are fully abreast with them, 
but our trouble is, we are too free and independent. 
There is nothing plainer than that the Apostle Paul had 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 239 

Baptists to contend with when he urged that they use 
not their independence and liberty as a cloak. The best 
way we see to overcome this difficulty is to throw the 
responsibility heavily upon the shoulders of the pastors, 
where it belongs. 

I believe for all, and confess for myself, that we are 
verily guilty in this matter before God, and we would 
say to our pastors, If you are called of God to be under- 
shepherds, you are responsible to Him in this matter and 
you ought to get about it. We honestly believe that 
God will bless us more as we see and do our duty in this 
matter of giving the Gospel to the world. 

"We suggest that tracts on the various phases of our 
missionary and educational work be gotten out by the 
Boards and put into the hands of all our members and 
friends, calling their attention to this God-imposed 
duty. Again, let the Foreign Mission Board furnish 
facts and information week after week to all our Bap- 
tist papers and keep the whole matter before the pas- 
tors and people. Surely our Baptist press will give 
space to this very needy work. Let the Board take note 
of pastors who are doing their duty and in this way 
" touch up" those who are not. Nobody is to blame for 
this sad condition of affairs but the pastors — God's 
tinder-shepherds. Now, my brethren our object is not 
to cross swords with any of you just for the sake of an 
argument, but to see if we can not find some way out of 
our sad dilemma. In God's name let us acknowledge 
our sins and try to do better, singing, 

L<ord, as to thy dear cross we flee, 

And plead to be forgiven, 
So let thee our pattern be, 

And form our souls for heaven. 



240 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



CHIPS 

GATHERED FROM MANY WORKSHOPS. 



A <ivord fitly spoken is tike apples of gold in pictures 
of silver. — Pwv. 25:11. 






o 









O 
o 
p 



o 




UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 241 

WEST AFRICAN WOMEN INFLUENTIAL. 

I do not desire to say anything uncivil about any 
lady, but I sincerely wish that the African woman had 
not imposed upon the mind of the African explorer the 
idea that she was a down-trodden worm, because by so 
doing she has made it almost impossible for any one to 
write about her calmly without coming to be regarded 
as unfeeling. Now, if I tell you that the African lady 
is a very cheerful personage, that she has a temper of 
her own, and so on, what would you think? Most likely 
that I am unfeeling or, being a woman, spiteful, and you 
w r ould be wrong and I should unintentionally have led 
you astray; for, truth to tell, I do not think any one is 
fonder of African women than I am, and I am sure no 
one esteems more highly their kindness, shrewdness, and 
sound judgment. But I can not weep over them, as 
worms. If I had a tear for their affairs I would drop 
it for the man who roused the anger of the African 
woman. 

There was one African explorer who understood 
African women— he no less than the man who first dis- 
covered the outfalls of the Niger River, Richard Lander. 
I beg to give you his own words : 

"I take this opportunity of expressing my high 
admiration of the amiable conduct of the African fe- 
males toward me. In sickness and in health, in pros- 
perity and adversity, their kindness and affection were 
ever the same. They have danced and sung* with me in 
health, grieved with me in sorrow, and shed tears of 
compassion at the recital of my misfortunes. When 



242 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

quite a boy, and suffering from fever in the West Indies, 
women of the same race used to take me in their arms 
or on their knees, sing and weep over me, and tell me 
not to die, for that my mother would break her heart 
to hear the news, and, pointing to the ocean, they 
cheered my spirits by saying that it laved the shores of 
England, and would shortly bear me upon its bosom to 
my distant home. In fine, through whatever region I 
have wandered, whether slave or free, I have invariably 
found a chord of tenderness and trembling pity to 
vibrate in the breast of an African Avoman, a spirit ever 
alive to soothe my sorrows and compassionate my afflic- 
tions, and I never in my life knew one of them to bestow 
on me a single unpleasant look or angry word." 

I, infinitely inferior to Lander, and only a woman of 
his race at best, yet with a wide knowledge of African 
women, say, with all my heart, his appreciation of them 
has been justified in my experience, and never a single 
unpleasant look or angry word have I had from an 
African woman.— Miss Mary H. Kingsley. 



Sixty thousand three hundred and thirty-eight Bibles 
or portions of Scripture were sold in Uganda last year; 
7,358,380 cowrie shells were received in payment, weigh- 
ing 25,760 pounds and valued at $5,000.00. These figures 
furnish a whole volume on the progress of Christianity 
in .this part of Central Africa, and the intelligent and 
earnest character of Christians. — The Kingdom, 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 243 

HE SHALL BE SATISFIED. 

The final triumph of the Redeemer's kingdom is no- 
where more assuringly foretold than in Isaiah 53 :2 : 
* ' He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satis- 
fied. ' ' Consider the sacrifice which the Son of God made 
in giving up his heavenly home and throne and glory 
for even a brief life on earth. Think of the lowliness of 
Ms birth, his humble home in Nazareth, his labors as a 
carpenter, his arduous three-years' toil in preaching the 
Gospel, the hostility and contempt of the Jews, the in- 
difference of the people, the contradiction of sinners, the 
blindness, weakness and waywardness of his friends, the 
shame of his prolonged trial, the injustice of his con- 
demnation, and the agony of the cross. When we com- 
prehend that the success of the work for which he en- 
dured so much is to be so complete and so glorious as 
to cause him to be entirely satisfied with the result of his 
toils, his humiliation, his sacrifices and his sorrows, every 
reason for anxiety and foreboding concerning the future 
of the work of the Lord is taken from the minds of his 
people. Why should any Christian be anxious if Christ 
is to be satisfied ? What hope, what confidence, what 
courage, what assurance of success, come to the Chris- 
tian laborer as he realizes that the harvest which shall 
be gathered will be one which shall entirely satisfy the 
Lord of the vineyard. 

Missions of the Church. 

Possessed of the divine nature, we share the divine 
mission. Catching the mantle of our ascending Lord. 
and with his divine "Go" ringing in our ears, distance 



244 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

is annihilated, creed, caste, and country lose their sig- 
nificance. The world becomes one vast brotherhood. 
Sin, the curse, the law, looms up in wondrous light. The 
cry for help is heard. The Christ spirit in us yearns to 
give relief. Cesarea's praying centurion and Peter's 
vision are reproduced. Gentile and Jew are abolished. 
Purse strings snap, bank vaults open, and treasures pour 
out. Hearts bleed in sympathy, the man is absorbed in 
Christ, the human is swallowed up in the divine ; ' ' there 
is neither Greek nor Jew ? circumcision nor uncircum- 
cision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free ; but Christ is 
all and in all. ' ' The mission is to everybody. Mountains, 
rivers, seas form no barrier. The love of Christ and of 
souls tunnels, bridges, and sails over all. Every heart 
travails, every home becomes a Calvary, every night dis- 
closes a Gethsemane, every Sabbath brings a Pentecost, 
every ear hears the Macedonian cry. Weeping Marys 
and sons of thunder, working Dorcases and trembling 
Timothys, lift hand and voices, old earth shakes under 
the tread of militant hosts, and heaven is in a tumult of 
joy over repentant sinners. The earth is rejuvenated. 
They beat their swords into ploughshares. The nations 
learn war no more. Prayer and praise fill the earth. 
"Crown him Lord of all" rings in exultant tones from 
ocean to ocean. — Rev. J. R. Moore. 



The purpose of foreign missions is Christ, for all 
the honor and praise of this world's redemption shall 
be given to Him. At the feet of Him who was crowned 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 245 

with thorns shall be cast the crowns of all the saved, 
from all the continents and all the islands of the sea. 
Mongolia and Polynesia and Patagonia shall join with 
Ethiopia in stretching forth their hands with offerings 
to Christ. A multitude that no man can number shall 
praise Him, of those who have been redeemed from the 
earth. But why should we limit the praise to the inhabi- 
tants of this little sphere ? Is it not written that God will 
sum up all things in Christ; that to principalities and 
powers in heavenly places shall be made known His 
manifold wisdom ; that in the name of Jesus every k lee 
shall bow, of things in heaven, as well as on earth and 
under the earth? May we not believe, with Mark Hop- 
kins, that in the great day of restitution other intelli- 
gences will come in long procession from other depart- 
ments of the universe, " great white legions from Sirius 
and Arcturus and the chambers of the South, to bow the 
knee and to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the 
glory of the Father ? * '—Herald. 



What is preaching? Preaching is now God's plan 
of reaching all people. Shall we thwart his plans be- 
cause of our needs at home ? Let Noah, the ark builder, 
and Moses, the law giver, and Solomon, the prince, and 
Isaiah, the courier, and the three ' * fishermen of Galilee ' ' 
answer. These all proclaim the unsearchable riches of 
God and His Christ.— Rev. P. R. Neil. 



246 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

"When God told Moses that He had come down to 
deliver the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage Moses 
rejoiced, but as soon as God told him that he was to be 
the instrument to accomplish that deliverance no excuse 
was too flimsy for Moses to offer. —Baptist Standard. 



"I would have our oppressors and even our friends 
to notice that the spirituality of this race was not dimin- 
ished in slavery. While in bondage it may have been 
somewhat objectionable; as seen in the practices of our 
race, it must be remembered they copied much from 
their owners— they have never descended to the level of 
brutes, and were kind, loving and faithful. They 
patiently waited till God broke their chains. There was 
more statesmanship in the Negro slaves than in their 
masters. Thousands firmly believed they would live to 
be free, but their masters could not be persuaded to 
voluntarily accept pay from the Government, and thus 
save the loss they afterwards bore through the "Eman- 
cipation. ' ' 

They went to war and fought the "God of battles," 
but the slaves waited, humbly feeding the wives and chil- 
dren of those who went to battle to rivet their chains. 
To my mind one of the most sublime points in our his- 
tory is right here. We never harmed one of these help- 
less women and children — they testified of that them- 
selves. And yet they tell stale lies of ravishing now, 
when the war is over and freedom gained, and when the 
men are all home. No, God has permitted us to triumph, 
and that through Him. He implanted in us a vigorous 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 247 

spiritual tree, and, since freedom, how has this been 
growing ? Untrammeled, we have, out of our ignorance 
and penury, built thousands of churches, started thou- 
sands of schools, educated millions of children, support- 
ed thousands of ministers of the Gospel, organized socie- 
ties for the caring of the sick and burying of the dead. 
This spirituality and love of offspring are indubitable 
evidences that slavery, though long and protracted, met 
in our race a vigorous, vital, God-like spirituality, which 
like the palm tree flourishes and climbs upward through 
oppression. William J. Simmons, D. D., LL. D. 



The pastors must be enlisted to work. "We can do 
nothing without them. They can build up, or they can 
tear down. The propagation of the Gospel was given 
to them. It is the duty of each pastor to see the Gospel 
is sent, in his day, throughout the world, or "report to 
God the reason why." 

No man has ever been called to preach and to pastor 
any congregation but who was equally commissioned 
to do foreign mission work. To remain indifferent is 
wicked, and to remain silent is criminal. Our pastors 
must be enlisted. They must be brought to see how great 
things the Lord expects of them in this regard. A mul- 
titude of other interests may crowd upon them— all great 
and important— but none out-weigh in importance 
foreign missions. One collection a year from each 
church under his supervision for this work, honestly 
collected and honestly accounted for, is the least which 
any true pastor is expected to do.— C. S. Brown, D. D. 



248 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

In spite of the strong stream of European immi- 
grants that flows steadily into South Africa, the blacks 
are increasing faster than the whites. The Fingoes in 
the Transkei are not only prosperous, but probably ten 
times as numerous as they were sixty years ago. The 
Zulus, in Natal, have doubled their numbers in twenty 
years. In thirty years the Basutos have quadrupled, 
overflowing into the Orange Free State and the Cape 
Colony. The Bachuanas are probably four times as 
numerous to-day as when Dr. Livingstone was a mission- 
ary among them. Dying out at the touch of civilization ! 
"Why, the natives of South Africa were never so thor- 
oughly alive. And this vitality of the natives may mean 
the permanent enrichment of the empire, if we are wise 
enough to use it. For the native is absolutely indispen- 
sable to the development of South African industry, 
whether it be mines or manufactures, husbandry or 
handicrafts. The Cornish miner who goes to work at 
Kimberley or Johannesburg does not wield the hammer 
and turn the drill as he did at home. In the new lands 
he finds a new environment, and discovers that he can 
do very much more by directing the labors of the two or 
three, or half a dozen natives that are allotted him. And 
the same holds true, to some extent, of all the skilled 
labor that England sends us. The brain of South 
African industry is at present covered with a white skin, 
and apparently will long continue so. But its brawn is 
covered with a black skin, and there is no immediate 
prospect of a change.— L. M. S. Chronicle. 



v «. ^ XEbe Heolecteo 
Continent. 




Key to the Black Mission- 
ary Map of S. America. 



Thk Spikit- 
ual Needs of 

SO. AMERICA 

can be judged 

by the dark- 
ness of this 

map. All cen- 
tres where 

American or 

European 

Protestant 

mi ssi onaries 

are stationed 

are shown by 

the white dots 

numbered to 

refer to the 

Key. (The 

boundaries of the fourteen States of 

South America are indicated in white, 

as also the principal rivers. ) 

All parts printed black are either- 
Roman Catholic, heathen, or uninhab- 
ited. 

The population of South America is 
estimated at 37,000,0<10. Of these prob- 
ably less than 4,000,000 have been 
reached by the Gospel, leaving 33,000,- 
000 wholly anevaugelized. 



Date of Founding 
Work in South America. 
I7h5. Moravian Mission- 
ary Society (0) 
1815. Wtst Indian Con- 
ference (Wesley an) (11). 
London Miss onary Society ,12\ 
British and Foreign Bible So- 
ciety (14). 
American Methodist Episcopal. 

North (5). 
Plvmouth Brethren (10). 
1844. So;th America Missionary So- 
ciety (10). 
Dr. Kallev's Churches, "Help 

for Brazil" (8). 
American Presbyterian (North 
and South) (2 and 3). 
1SG1. Society for the Propagation oi 
the Gospel (18). 
American Bible Society 15). 
American Methodist Episcopal . 

South (4). . 

Southern Baptist Convention (I). 
Bishop Taylor's Mission (?)■ 
American Episcopal (6). 
L8°0 Salvation Army. 
1899 National Baptist Convention (8). 



1864 

IS 75 

1 879 

1 880 

1 sso 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 249 

Foreign missions are Christ's method of publishing 
God's redemption, and so of re-establishing God's 
authority over an apostate and revolted humanity. With- 
out any uttered command of Christ they would have 
claims upon us, for they are founded in right reason and 
in the best instincts of our nature. But that uttered 
command has been added, and to-day I derive the 
authority for foreign missions from Christ's express 
direction, from his single word, "Go." His one in- 
junction to the unbelieving world is "Come" — "Come 
unto me." But His one injunction to all His believing 
followers is "Go" — "Go ye into all the world, and 
preach the gospel to all the nations." It is the sub- 
limest order ever given on earth. When I think of the 
breadth of the world that was to be subdued, of the 
time it has taken to subdue it, of the small numbers and 
the narrow views of those disciples, the audacity of that 
command seems almost insanity, until I realize that He 
is God, and that all other authority is but the shadow 
of His! 

Thus far the authority for foreign missions might 
be something external, and obe Hence might be matter of 
duty. There has been much religious propagandism of 
this sort. But there is something better than this. 
Authority may take internal form and manifestation. 
In the case of the disciples it did become, and I trust 
it has bcome in us, the authority of an inward impulse, 
of love to Him who died for us. That love breaks 
through the bonds of isolation and selfishness, and moves 
us to go out to the sinning and suffering with a compas- 
sion like that which Jesus felt for the lost and perishing 



250 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

multitudes. When Christ bids us "Go," we wish to go. 
The outer word has become an inner word. Woe to us 
if we preach not the gospel ! We can not but speak 
forth the things which we have seen and heard. 

Augustus Strong/ D. D., L. L. D. 



Because the way of salvation is plain, we should 
seek to make it plain to the understanding of sinners. 
There is much that ought to be corrected in the manner 
of our preaching. We need to preach more emphatically 
a free salvation. We sometimes present the gospel in 
such a way that men get the impression that they have 
to ' ' get religion ' ' by praying, or by singing, or by mourn- 
ing. And some inquirers will attend protracted meet- 
ings for weeks, and then not find Christ. Only let men's 
understanding be enlightened. Let them be taught 
that— 

"Nothing- either great or small 
Remains for them to do," 

but to repent of their sins and trust Jesus, and many 
more will be saved. Let us, then, study this matter of 
salvation so that we may be able to present it in the 
manner laid down in God's word. Let us seek to honor 
Christ more by being more faithful to his method of 
saving men. Let us exalt God's plain of salvation, 
preaching Jesus only, and the desert places will blossom 
as the rose, and the waste places will be built up, and the 
name of our Lord the Christ magnified. 

E. B. Vandavell, D. D. 



UP THE LADDER IX FOREIGN MISIONS. 251 

In 1860 an English missionary, writing from Hayti, 
in describing the devotion of the native Christians, gives 
the following : ' * She obtained a livelihood by the culti- 
vation of a piece of ground a little way out of town. 
Poor as she was, she never came to public worship o^ 
Sunday without a gift in money to the cause of Christ. 
That she would not omit; if she had nothing to sell from 
the garden she would cut a few bundles of grass from 
the wayside and carry them to market, that she might be 
provided with her gift. ' ' Another story is told of Mrs. 
Marie Jones, who, when the missionary first arrived, 
was a member of the Scotch Presbyterian Mission. 
Though having been baptized three times, after a fashion, 
on hearing the story of Jesus and His baptism, she said: 
' ' I want to be baptized in same fashion as Jesus he own- 
self/' After she had been "buried with Christ by 
baptism,'"' she said: "I baptized four times now, but 
only one time right." 



Think of God's mighty word to His servants: "Go 
ye into alt the world and preach the Gospel to every 
creature." Fear not the bosom of the deep for God in 
the form of man more than once calmed the troubled seas 
for His apostles' sake. Fear not the African climates, 
for God in the form of man visited Africa long ago. He 
it is who can temper the winds for the shorn lamb. Fear 
not the heathen, for it was Paul who succeeded in bring- 
ing thousands of ruined souls who were reckoned among 
the most vile and the wildest men of the East to the 
Cross of Christ.— Rev. Henson McKinney. 



252 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

No duty can be more pressing upon every earnest, 
honest, conscientious believer in the possibilities of the 
race than that this century brings with it added oppor- 
tunities. What is the nature of these opportunities? 
They, one and all, must converge in the central idea of 
racial advancement, racial development. This at first 
view may seem selfish, but a sober, thoughtful inquiry 
into the merits which the case presents will convince the 
most skeptical that this is far from being a selfish out- 
look. Our duty to ourselves is very simple, the condition 
in which we find ourselves makes self-study of para- 
mount importance. The beam is evidently in our own 
eye, the scriptural reference in this particular is certain- 
ly to the point. Let us take the beam out of our own 
eye, then we may see clearly to remove the mote from our 
brother's eye. Let us make manly efforts to relieve our 
own sad condition, then we may be emboldened to go 
out for the broader work of human elevation. 

G. W. Hayes, A. M a 



' 'What are churches for but to make missionaries? 
"What is education for but to train them ? What is com- 
merce for but to carry them ? What is money for but to 
send them? What is life itself for but to fulfill the pur- 
pose of missions enthroning Jesus Christ in the hearts 
of men?"— Josiah Strong, D. D. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 253 

TIME BETWEEN THE FIRST PREACHING AND 
THE FIRST CONVERT. 

Burmah— six years (1813-19) : name Moung Nau, 
tinder Juclson. 

India — seven years (1793-1800) : name Krishna Pal, 
under Carey. 

China— seven years (1807-14) : name Tsae-Ako, 
under Morrison. 

Polynesia— sixteen years (1796-1812) : name King 
Pomare II. 

Micronesia— five years (1852-57). 

Greenland— five years (1733-38). 

Uganda— six years (1876-81). 

Kurunian, South Africa— eight years (1821-29), 
under Moffat. 

Madagascar— thirteen years 1807-18). 

Labrador— five years (1771-76) ; name Kingminguse. 

Maoris of New Zealand— eleven years (1807-18). 

Japan— five years (1859-64). 

Congo— seven years under Richardson. 

The struggles of these pioneers made it possible for 
us to get quick returns — 35 churches, 19 pastors, 70 
licensed helpers and 3,363 members in five years. 

Praise God for the rapidity with which the gospel is 
taking the whole earth for God and His Christ— Afro- 
American Mission Herald. 



My thought as I write is of poor, dark Africa; my 
heart goes out to that dark land, but thank God 
day is breaking and the sunshine of success is seen. 
God moves in a mysterious way.— Mattie Fields. 



254 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

"Master bid my brother divide, the inheritance with me.'* 

Congregational— A. M. Board.— Asia, $465,120; 
Africa, $51,079. 

Presbyterian.— Asia, $636,055; Africa, $34,424. 

Methodist.— Asia, $638,857; Africa, $25,635. 

Episcopal.— Asia, $159,557; Africa, $48, 872. 

Baptist.— Asia, $402,652; Africa, $24,106. 

Dutch Reformed.— Asia, $125,000; Africa, . 

Total for six great societies— Asia, $2,427,241; 
Africa, $184,106. 

The men who, like Paul, have gone to heathen lands 
with the message: "We seek not yours, but you," have 
been hindered by those who, coming after, have revised 
the message. Eum and other corrupted agencies come 
in with our boasted civilization, and the feeble races 
Avither before the hot breath of the white man's vices. — 
Benjamin Harrison, LL. D., Ex-President of the U. S. 



"The United States include a population of about 
75,000,000 souls; Africa has more than three to every 
one of these. One man out of every seven on the globe 
dwells in Africa. 

Of the nearly 300,000,000 people living on the Dark 
Continent, it is said that only 2,000,000 have ever heard 
the gospel. 

South of the great African Sahara there is a stretch 
of 4,000 miles without a single missionary amongst the 
multitudes of people to be found in the villages and 
great cities. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 255 

" Think of the 90,000,000 in the Soudan region with- 
out a single evangelical witness, and the 40,000,000 in 
the Central African lake districts sitting in heathen 
darkness ! ' ' 

When Stanley made his memorable journey of 999 
days across the continent of Africa, in the course of 
7,000 miles he never saw the face of a Christian, nor of 
a man who had an opportunity to become one. Many 
have heard the gospel and obeyed since, for which God 
l>e praised. 

What Columbus and Vespucius did for America in 
the sixteenth century, Livingstone and Stanley have 
done for Africa in the nineteenth. A new world is 
opened to us, with an area equal to North America and 
Europe combined. And this world has, for eighteen 
hundred years, been allowed to sit in darkness and the 
shadow of death! Think of 200,000,000 of human be- 
ings, even now compact together, and never having 
heard of the love of God ! Has not Africa, at this time, 
the strongest possible claim upon the energies of the 
Christian Church ? ' ' 



il And Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God." 
— Psalms 68:31. 

It is generally conceded that this prophecy by the 
Psalmist had direct reference to our people in Africa. 
Let us notice therefore : 

1. What is included in the term Ethiopia as used in 
Holy Writ? We are told by the learned that the He- 
brew term "Cush," is translated Ethiopia by the Sep- 



256 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

tuagint, Vulgate, and by almost all other versions, 
ancient and modern, as well as by the English versions. 
It can not, therefore, be doubted that the term 
"Cushim" has by the interpretation of all ages been 
translated " Ethiopians, " because they also are known 
by their black color and their transmigrations, which 
were easy and frequent. Thus it is evident that the 
terms Cush and Ethiopia were used by sacred writers 
interchangeably. It is not my purpose here to enter into 
the ethnological discussion of the terms. That has been 
Avell done by the lamented and learned Dr. Rufus L_ 
Perry in his "Cushite, " and by our own scholarly Dr. 
Harvey Johnson. Suffice it here for this present oc- 
casion to say that the term Ethiopia was anciently given 
to all those whose color was darkened by the sun. 
Herodotus, the "Father of History,'' distinguishes the 
Eastern Ethiopians, who had straight hair, from the 
"Western Ethiopians, who had curly or woolly hair. He 
says they are a two-fold people, lying extended in a 
long tract from the rising to the setting of the sun. 
Hence we are forced to the conclusion with our his- 
torians, that the words "Ethiopia" and "Cush" were 
used always to describe a black people, or the country 
where such people lived. The term Negro, from the 
Latin "Niger," means black, and consequently is a 
modern term with all the original meaning of Cush and 
Ethiopia. Let the Negro race therefore, whether in 
America, Africa, or the isles of the sea, take comfort in 
the prophecy of our text, and awake from his long night 
of sleep and become diligent to make his "Calling and 
Election sure." 




Witch Doctor, the curse of Central Africa. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 257 

2. What is meant by the phrase "Shall soon stretch 
out her hands unto Godf" "Without entering into any 
exhaustive exposition of this wonderful prophetic Psalm, 
and of this special prophecy used in the text, let us cut 
short all elaborate treatment here and take the super- 
ficial and patent meaning, which is seen by a mere glance 
to be that the Psalmist while musing poetically under 
the magic guidance of the Holy Spirit, was led to the 
great apex of loftiest grandeur, and looking forward 
through unborn centuries, beholds the King of kings as 
he lead captivity captive and brings His gifts to men. 
He sees with Isaiah, the Gospel prophet, that Ethiopia's 
dusky sons came over in chains and fell down to their 
captors until they were enabled to say, indeed and in 
truth, " Surely God is in thee, and there is none else." 
Then, filled with that Spirit who gave tongues of fire at 
Pentecost, the Afro- American, the Negro, or modern 
Ethiopian, shall return to his father 's land with gospel 
torch, causing it to be said of his native brother that for 
them who sat in the region of darkness great lights have 
sprung up. This is, in my judgment, the meaning of tfie 
prophecy that Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands 
unto God.— Rev. M. Vann. 



The condition in which a man is born does not place 
him beyond the reach of divine love. This position 
is based upon the fact that in Christ Jesus "there is 
neither Greek, nor Jew, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor 
free." In this life it is possible for the lowliest person 
to work his way up to the loftiest station.— J. E. 
Jones, D, D. 



258 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 



Every Baptist Church in this country ought to have a 
healthy ''Woman's Missionary Society" attached to it. A 
Missionary Baptist Church -without a Missionary Society re- 
minds one of a bird with one wing". Indeed, a Missionary 
Baptist Church without a Missionary Society is behind the 
times. I say this because that church has been weighed in 
the balance and found wanting, because it was void of that 
spirit which : s the outgrowth of missionary activity and real 
life. To tolerate a church of this kind is to foster spasmodic 
giving; for few, and very few churches, without a missionary 
department, give regularly to missions. If the churches hope 
ever to see the * 'kingdom come," it must cleave to that spirit 
which was breathed by our Saviour — the spirit of missions — 
when he said: "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel 
to every creature." One may ask why a society, why not the 
whole church, when it comes to this question of missions? We 
long to see the day when each church, from the pulpit to the 
door, shall be a living, giving, acting, praying Missionary 
Society, but until that day comes, let us have a Missionary 
organization, if of but a few followers, in each church. 

Nannie H. Burroughs. 



"Through this toilsome world, alas! 
Once and only once, I pass. 
If a kindness I may show, 
If a good deed I may do. 

"To any suffering- fellowman, 
Let me do it while I can, 
Nor delay it, for 'tis plain, 
I shall not pass this way again." 



It may be interesting to the friends of Liberia to know that 
since the year 1876 — twenty-four years ago — the Baptist 
Churches in Liberia have had no special aid from any Foreign 
Boards of benevolent work, and yet, in point of missionary 
and educational effort, they occupy a front rank in the country. 

We fully recognize our responsibility as Negro churches, 
and whether we receive aid or not from abroad, we feel that 
we are not absolved from doing our duty to our race and 
country; and while we have not done all that we might have 
done, still it is a source of gratification and thankfulness to 
know that we are sensible of our responsibility and obligation, 
and are willing to do our little for the amelioration of the con- 
dition of our Fatherland; for we recognize the fact that if 
Liberia is to enjoy independence in the fullest sense, her own 
sons and daughters are to be agents to effect it. 

Robert B. Richardson, D. D, 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 259 

REV. L. G. JORDAN, D. D. 

"We live in deeds and not in words.' ' 

Lewis Garnett Jordan was born a slave, .near Merid- 
ian, Miss., June 2, 1853, converted, and baptized by Rev. 
Frank Hutton in 1871. He was granted a license to 
preach on September 12, 1873, and ordained to the work 
of the ministry November 5, 1875, at Cotton Wood, 
in East Carroll Parish, La. Recognizing the need of 
literary training for the work that was set before him, 
he entered the Baptist Institute, at Nashville, Tenn., 
now known as the Roger Williams University, where he 
remained until the beginning of his career as pastor. 
He began his pastoral work in Yazoo City, Miss., taking 
charge of a church that had been rent by contentions, 
and dissensions of the most aggravating and damaging 
character. This afforded him an excellent opportunity 
to develop and to manifest his ability as a pastor and 
disciplinarian, which he did in a most successful and 
admirable manner, by healing the wide breach and re- 
uniting these torn factions in the brief period of three 
years. In addition to the work of reuniting these 
scattered forces he erected one of the most magnificent 
church edifices in the State. 

In 1881 he moved to Waco, Texas, and subsequently 
took charge of the New Hope Baptist Church. This 
was one of the leading churches in the Lone Star State: 
its demands on a pastor were many, but the young 



260 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

preacher was equal to the occasion. He increased the 
membership most rapidly and erected a structure so 
beautiful, so spacious, unique and artistic, that with 
its marvelous increase in a membership of the most pro- 
gressive element of that growing city, no additions or 
amendments to this house of worship has been neces- 
sary. He has held large and appreciative pastorates 
in Yazoo City, Miss., San Antonio, Hearne and "Waco, 
Tex., and Philadelphia, Pa., resigning each of the pastor- 
ates over the unending protests of a great majority of 
the most faithful and active members; and being per- 
mitted to preside over the meetings in which each of his 
successors were elected. 

During a busy pastoral life in Waco, Texas, he 
founded The Baptist Pilot, out of which grew The South- 
Western Baptist and The Baptist Star. The latter of 
these journals is still being published in Houston, Texas, 
as the official organ of the Baptist Missionary and Edu- 
cational Convention of that State. 

During this same period he became noted as a 
temperance lecturer and rendered such faithful and 
profitable services in this capacity that he was familiarly 
styled ' ' The Texas Cyclone. ' ' In 1888 he was a delegate 
to the National Prohibition Convention, which con- 
vened in Indianapolis, Ind., and obtained favor with 
this party to that extent that in 1894 he was nominated 
by the prohibitionists of the Keystone State for congress- 
man at large. 

A Philadelphia paper said : 

"In 1891 he became pastor of the Union Baptist 
Church, Philadelphia, Pa., where he found a small mem- 




ADONIRAM JUDSON. 




WM. GARY, D. D., 
Pioneer English Baptist Missionary. 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 261 

bership, which has increased to one of the largest in that 
city. In April, 1893, they broke ground for a new 
building, and in December dedicated one of the most 
beautiful houses of worship in the United States. His 
congregations were large, intelligent and enthusiastic. 
His church well organized, having two prayer meet- 
ings a week, a B. Y. P. Union, B. B. Brigade, and Indus- 
trial School, in which Jews, Italians and our own people 
met each Saturday afternoon; a well equipped printing 
office, where The Union Record, a spicy little church 
paper, was published weekly. The building is three 
stories, lighted with electricity, and will seat one thous- 
and persons. The front is of gray brick, with Ohio 
limestone trimmings. The membership was 906. Eev. 
Jordan is a model pastor, an untiring worker, a great 
organizer, and a master financier. " 

At a meeting of the Foreign Mission Board, of the 
National Baptist Convention, held February 13, 1896, 
he was elected as its corresponding secretary, and has 
filled that position continuously with great credit to 
himself and the Baptist denomination. Organization, 
system and order are the distinguishing features of his 
movements. By his vigilant, active and untiring efforts 
the Baptists of this country have been educated on the 
subject of missions and inspired to greater missionary 
activity than at any time during the history of the 
National Baptist Convention. The missionary workers 
in foreign fields have been increased, their salaries have 
been paid with a reasonable and satisfactory degree of 
promptness, and several self-supporting churches in 
Africa have grown up out of the mission stations 



262 UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

adopted and sustained by his board. Having previously 
visited the dark continent and become acquainted with 
conditions as they existed, he was prepared to super- 
intend the work with more positive assurances of suc- 
cess than any secretary who had preceded him. Under 
his judicious management the Baptists were enabled to 
form a consolidation of the General Association of the 
Western States and Territories and to unite all the 
forces of Negro Baptists in this country for more effect- 
ive work in the Dark Continent. Another happy feature 
of his administrative ability is evidenced by the success 
which attended his manly effort to secure co-operation 
with the American Baptist Missionary Union, of Boston, 
Mass. Contrary to the expectations of the most san- 
guine, this co-operation was obtained to the extent that 
this great missionary organization appropriates $1,000 
annually to the Foreign Mission Board, to be used by it 
in developing a greater love for missions in the hearts of 
the two millions of its constituency. In recognition of 
his intelligence, worthiness, manliness and effectual ser- 
vices in 1900, the Natchez Baptist College of Mississippi 
and the Guadalupe College of Texas conferred upon him 
the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Thus panoplied, he 
goes forth a soldier true, a hero brave, daring to die for 
the cause which he loves ; never faltering in the sternest 
conflict; never stepping to the cadence of the music of 
retreat; never turning his back upon an advancing foe; 
but with a protecting God in front and shining hosts 
of conquerors beckoning him on, he marches proudly, 
defiantly and gallantly to arms, to battle, to conquest 



UP THE LADDER IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 263 

and to victory in the name of the Lord. His motto is the 
imperishable and the ineffaceable "Ne Plus Ultra." 

E. W. D. Isaac, 



\ 



M V^ 



ii& "/■ ' -■■■■ 



y^&U :.?■'>■ "■■?■' 




